Inter-Dimensional Wizard
by Imbalance
Summary: Alexander died. An indeterminable amount of time later, he finds himself waking in a land he thought fictional. He knows of this world's evil, and he'll do anything to protect what's his. Life isn't fair, but he's playing with a stacked deck. He didn't know the future of his last life, and canon timelines are for chumps anyway. -Trigger Warnings and other stuff end of prologue-
1. Prologue: Death and Life

**A/N: **If you've read any of my other stories, you can likely skip to the end of this chapter. Some of them have different details at the end. I'm working off the multiverse theory for all of them, so some shenanigans are allowed, and I can be a lazy bastard when I think it suits me and the story.

**Prologue: Death and Life**

He died. It's a quiet thing, to die while sleeping. No tragic accident, no murder, no stupid mistakes or suicide. He simply fell asleep, his body died, and his spirit left. Medically, it would be labeled as heart failure as a result of long term cardiac disease, after his family or coworkers noticed and reported he was missing.

Not to say he was in pain or suffered. It truly was a peaceful, quiet passing. His family and friends were aware of his situation. They would be sad and grieve, and he would miss them, but as he looked down on his peacefully resting corpse, he knew they would ultimately be fine, and therefore, so would he, though that didn't stop him from letting out a heavy sigh as he floated around his room.

Or at least a metaphysical sigh, seeing as he couldn't actually breathe or move air any longer.

With nothing left to do but calmly wait for whatever happens after death, which was already surprising enough as he thought about it; the fact that there was actually something _after _death, he decided to reflect on who he was as a person.

He grew up in a loving middle class home, never wanting for anything, though that's not to say he was spoiled. He was raised by a single mother, with one little sister, both of whom he loved dearly. He lived his life as he wanted, pursuing happiness and fulfillment over money and fame, and while he never felt that he had found his true calling, he lived well enough.

If he had to guess, he held a positive karmic balance, though he was definitely no Gandhi. He loved animals, animals loved him, he was a huge nerd, and he read voraciously. He treated everyone he met at least neutrally, and was always true to who he was as a person, never compromising his morals or ideals.

He graduated university with an engineering degree, made some decent money, left it all to his little sister, and died.

The summary of his obituary would read:

_An incredibly smart asshole who lived, laughed, and loved. He will be missed dearly._

Next to which a picture of his mid-thirties scruffy grin would be printed in black and white. If it was color, you'd have seen his hazel eyes and neatly kept short brown hair.

And then he started crying, which was weird, since his metaphysical tears simply evaporated once they fell off his face, which again, was weird, since he appeared more as a floating white wisp and had no face, or even eyes to cry from. Mentally he chuckled dryly, even in death he deflected pain with humor.

Because ultimately, he didn't want to die. He never got married, he never fell in love, he never would get to see and do so very many different things, and that, no matter how much he thought he had prepared himself for the inevitable eventuality, hurt.

Which was precisely when the process for his afterlife began.

It appeared honestly accepting everything was the kickstarter to his next destination, as once he admitted how he truly felt he was jerked from his room, pulled up through his roof, above his city, through the clouds, all the way until he hung above the shining blue gem of his beautiful planet Earth where he briefly stopped for a moment and was allowed to appreciate the splendor of his world as it turned and spun through space.

Then the pull resumed, and he was tugged further.

He saw the Milky Way, and was allowed to watch it rotate as stars spun themselves into and out of existence. Then the pull began again and he witnessed clusters of galaxies zoom past until he hovered at what he believed was the edge of his universe, and watched the intricate web of infinity dance and pulse.

Time meant nothing to him during the entirety of this process, and he basked in the presence of the universe, of life and death, soaking up as much as he could, as much as he would be allowed. He never wanted it to end, but all things must eventually cease, and so too did this. He was momentarily depressed as the pull returned, though he could tell whoever was behind it understood his feelings, and was gracious enough to slowly pull him from the grasp of his universe.

It was only once he had fully left the grip of his old home, that his perspective once again shifted. He gazed down upon his universe as he knew it, and saw it in its entirety from beyond the wall. A glowing marble of incredible potential, separated from other, similar marbles by the barest of margins. They spread in every direction imaginable, and some unimaginable, beyond his comprehension as he witnessed an unknown number of marbles overlap, some occasionally bouncing out of their shivering, layered mass, while others bounced in.

It was at this point he had to shut out his consciousness, as whatever had been guiding him thus far could or would no longer extend its protection to his mind; and he felt the scale, the impossibility of the scope threaten to crush him. So he closed himself off from his surroundings, retreating into the depths of his soul to protect himself, and there he stayed. He clung to his internal ego; to his memories, and experiences, the foundation and structure of what made him who he was, where he floated, embraced in warmth, embraced in the darkness, for an unknown amount of time.

And then the darkness left.

He awoke to light. Searing, bright light, and cold air, and he despised it, crying out his displeasure and rejection before he felt himself being bundled once more in warmth, though the light refused to fade. Soothing tones were whispered gently to him in a foreign tongue as he was gently held and rocked.

He calmed, sniffling as he finally opened himself up to his new experiences. He was alive again, recently reborn if he understood his situation correctly. All he knew for an eternity had been the darkness, and suddenly he was being flooded with light, and sound, and sensation that could only be indicative of life.

His new mother continually whispered sweet tones to him, and despite his adult mentality felt himself relaxing. He could _feel_ the love she held for him, cradling him in her arms, and that was a more than suitable replacement for the warmth of the darkness.

Finally calmed and relaxed, he took stock of _him_. His time during his universal-slash-dimensional travels, and subsequent timeless existence in the dark, had caused the structure of who he was to deteriorate. As an analogy, if his identity was represented by a building within his soul, then the materials of the structure had begun to rot, while Mother Nature had taken its toll and began to reclaim the abandoned structure.

In this instance, he had pictured the structure as a three story pagoda. To continue the analogy, the wood had decayed and the structure was rickety after so much time had passed, though the foundation of the building, the foundation of _him_ was still sturdy and unblemished.

What this ultimately meant, was that he had lost, or had many of his memories fade. It was sad, to take stock and think back on some things, only to find faces and names missing, portions of his old life simply having disappeared into the ether.

He no longer remembered his own name, or any of his family or friends, though he could still recall the bulk of his experiences with and without them. As depressing as it was to lose the intimate identifying connections, he was unsurprised. He had always had a terrible time remembering names, and while many of the now faceless memories were important people in his life, it made a twisted kind of sense that those details would be the main things he would forget. The rest of the missing pieces were random chunks throughout his life, similar to how memories of childhood and youth faded over the years.

As he lay in his mother's arms, nursing on one of her nipples – a necessary evil, the memories of which he planned to immediately destroy once he graduated to soft foods – he contemplated on his situation. Reincarnation was a tricky subject, and no matter how much he thought or speculated, in the end he would have to wait, learn, and grow for a while before he could come up with any sort of concrete plan or goal for his new life.

It was with a full belly, wrapped in a warm blanket burrito, and cradled in loving arms, that he drifted into unconsciousness on his first day in his new life.

**A/N:**

Yo, this is one of the fanfictions I've been piddling with. I'll be tossing all of them up. They're across several different fandoms, so take your pick and hit me with some constructive feedback. It's likely most of my work can be considered Self Insert fictions in some capacity. If you hate SI fics, I recommend you read something else. If you're just going to be bitching about the story direction or what you want to see, gonna be honest here and straight up tell you I don't particularly care. These are my stories playing with other people's universes, so your wishes and desires for how I play in my playground mean nothing to me.

Unless you own the original content. Then I might care.

I do not own the cover art. I'm not sure who the original artist is, but the best source I was able to find was here:

/people/mblog/54630174/detail/

**Warnings for this story**

This is rated M for a reason.

Likely Harem

Profanity, Sexual Content, Violence


	2. Chapter 1: Hard Knocks

**Chapter One: Hard Knocks**

Alexander Berli Crosius was born during the month of May, in the year X765 to Mariela and David Crosius, two civilians who owned a small magic shop in the town of Oshibana situated on the eastern side of the country of Fiore. Despite the memories of his previous life, Alex loved his parents deeply, and they loved him just as much.

He grew up surrounded by items his old world could never have dreamt of, constantly exploring the various new toys and inventions that their store would stock as hot new items were released by merchant-enchanters. They lived a fulfilling, happy life; one that was shattered shortly after it began.

At age five, Alexander Crosius manifested his magic for the first time. At age five, Alexander Crosius watched a dark mage kill his father over a magic trinket worth a couple thousand jewel. At age five, Alexander Crosius killed his first man as the fucker attempted to rape his mother. At age five, Alexander Crosius had every illusion of Fiore as place of happiness and wonder dispelled.

Four months later, Alex and his mother had finished selling his family's shop and moved to Magnolia where they opened a small café. Alex was promptly accepted into Fairy Tail's family. Rumors of a new young mage killing a dark mage in defense of his mother had long since made the rounds. The hardness of the boy's eyes as Master Makarov welcomed him to his new home was the first of many painful thorns to pierce his soft heart in the years to come.

"Mom!" Alex yelled from the stairs at the back of their cozy shop. "Mom! I'm leaving! I'll be back for dinner!" He continued as he finished pulling on his jacket. The temperature had recently dropped as Fiore moved solidly into the fall season. He saw his mother peek out from back kitchen and wave in acknowledgement.

"Don't get into any trouble! Master Makarov has already promised to tell me if you cause him any problems, so behave yourself!" Alex simply rolled his eyes but yelled back an affirmative before he slipped through the early morning coffee and breakfast crowd, waving to a few regulars and their two wait-staff as he passed by.

He was almost forty in combined years. Even if he acted his current body's age most of the time, he was never the type to make his mother's life more difficult. Especially after his father's so recent violent passing. His little fists clenched in repressed fury at the reminder, space shivering slightly in response to his magical and emotional state as he quickly made his way down Magnolia's main thoroughfare towards his guild hall.

When he had first come to this world and learned of his new situation, he had initially been ecstatic. He had been a big fan of the Fairy Tail universe, enjoying the general story, world details, and undertones hinted at through context. While the story itself was fairly childish, what with the power of love and friendship giving random power boosts, he was initially still thoroughly excited to have the opportunity to explore this new world and potentially meet a few of the characters from the story in the flesh.

It was a cruel irony that what should have been a celebratory moment when he awaked his magic, was turned into a traumatic, heartrending experience for the surviving members of his family. Returning his thoughts to his mother, he reigned his magic back in. Their new little café was doing wonders to keep her mind off the tragedy.

The café was an incredibly successful addition to the city of Magnolia. His mother's hand brewed coffee and homemade pastries were incredibly well received among the population, many initially showing up on opening day in support of the newly single mother. It was a surprise to everyone when her creations, inspired by a bit of Alex' old world knowledge, were such a huge hit, causing a surge of recurrent customers followed by a constant influx of new ones as word spread. It also helped that she was incredibly easy on the eyes as well, though no one had any improper thoughts, or if they did no one was brave enough to voice them. The one time someone did, Alex had sent the impertinent asshole to the hospital with several broken bones.

He was glad for the distraction. It had been a couple months since the grand opening, and the time consumption from running a business, the financials, supplies, baking, and customer service, had kept her on her toes, though he would still occasionally catch her during periods of down time with her head in her hands. Every time, he would simply crawl into her lap and they would sit in silence for a while.

While his mother ran her business, Alex had spent his days either training, or running as many D rank missions as he could around the city, which he considered additional training. His schedule typically consisted of waking up, eating a hearty breakfast while briefly helping his mother around the kitchen before he would make the mile and a half run through Magnolia to Fairy Tail's guild hall.

His mornings were filled with flexibility, stamina, cardio, and magic drills until lunch, which he would eat at the hall. Lunch was followed by D rank missions around the city, which he used in a similar manner to his morning exercises. He ran everywhere he went, used the client interactions to improve his social skills, and exercised his magic in as many varied ways as he could to solve each problem. Fine touch, minimal power, maximum power, brute force, he took jobs that allowed for every type of combination of magic application as he could.

In the process he saved up a nice nest egg for his age, which he would occasionally dip in to in order to buy his mother nice presents, or fund tools, gear, or additional study materials for his own improvement, be that magical or educational, though he could also often be found reading for entertainment as well during his own down time. At the beginning, his mother had request he attend school, and while he initially acquiesced, his boredom and what he viewed as an immense waste of time drove him to test out of the country mandated classes and graduate early.

An outsider perspective would have characterized him as a quiet, motivated child. He was very cute, with signs that he would grow up to be quite handsome. He kept his dark purple hair long, however it had yet to grow enough to be put into a ponytail. It framed his still chubby face, though over time the cardio would cut some of the baby fat from his cheeks even before he began to age. He had black, almond shaped eyes and the hints of a sharp jawline.

He hadn't always held this appearance. The manifestation of his magic came with some side effects, changing his hair and eye colors, both of which had initially been a dark brown. Alex had ended up uninspiringly naming his magic Space Magic. While he held control over the fabric of space, simply calling it Space Magic didn't seem to fully encompass the full extent of his magic's capabilities, but the name would serve as a red herring for enemies. There were many facets of his abilities he was discovering, almost daily, and he was sure he would continue to learn new things as both he and his power grew.

Upon reaching the guild hall, Alex began his morning routine, doing a brief active warmup for the remainder of his muscles as he contemplated his place in the timeline. He was the same age as Erza and Mirajane, though it would still be a few years before they would join the guild. Cana would join in a couple years, followed by Gray a couple years later, then Erza a couple years after that. Natsu and Mystogan would join the following year, while Lucy's mother would pass away a short time later. The Strauss siblings would join a year after that, and it would be another four years before Lisanna disappears and the start of standard canon story begins.

There's a lot of content there, and a lot of events that Alex felt he could, and perhaps should, alter. This was his world now as well after all, and no matter what he did, it would ultimately end up sending butterflies through the timeline, so he might as well take advantage of events of which he held a degree of foreknowledge before the future became too far outside of his expectations.

It was an easy decision to keep Cana away from alcohol, and help her settle her family problems with Gildarts. He regrettably didn't know enough about her past to attempt to save her mother. There was nothing he could do for Gray, Erza, Natsu, or Mystogan for similar reasons, but he could definitely save Lisanna from being sent to Edolas. That would have far reaching consequences, but saving the Strauss siblings from the heartache would be well worth it. If he could convince Porlyuisca to part with a magic recovery potion, he could save Layla as well, which would be another massive flap of the wings, though he'd have to convince both Layla and Lucy to leave that fucker Jude afterwards. He learned to treasure them later, but it was only after he lost everything that he realized their importance. They both deserved better, and Alex would ensure they received it.

Alex quietly sat down to lunch per his usual schedule before grabbing a construction contract off the board and heading back out. Construction gigs were great for flexing his ability. Manipulating as many different parts and pieces that were required for a construction project was an excellent exercise for control and mass fine manipulation for his spatial techniques, as well as endurance and stamina from the duration he was required to constantly maintain his power.

As he made to leave the hall, Master Makarov halted him, calling him over for a brief chat.

"Alex, m' boy, I realize you're still very young, but I also recognize talent when I see it. You've been blowing through contracts and steadily growing in power and ability since you've joined our family." Alex gave a small smile and nodded in thanks as the Master took a swig of his beer in preparation for his next sentence.

"It's for these reasons that, as long as your mother agrees, I will be personally taking you out on your first C rank mission later this week. I want you to understand the difference in difficulty between the ranks. While I won't be officially promoting you for a couple more years, as long as everything goes well, you'll have my blessing to find groups for C rank missions, pending your mother's approval of course."

Alex simply nodded in acceptance.

"Thank you, Gramps. It'll be an honor to have you personally escorting me. I'll discuss it with my mother tonight, and have her write a note with her answer for you."

Makarov nodded with a bright smile and watched as the boy went about his business, sighing as the child vanished through the doors of the hall.

"So much potential," he mused aloud. "So much potential, and so much constrained emotion. Hopefully time will temper the flames."

Alex stood in front of the guild hall for a moment in quiet contemplation. He hadn't expected to be allowed to progress to higher ranked quests for some time. Despite it technically not being an official promotion, beyond this point it was strictly a formality so the guild could say it isn't endangering children by keeping him officially as D rank.

As long as he demonstrated acceptable strength and judgement, he would progress rapidly from here. If Makarov's comment was anything to go by, he would be officially C rank around the time he turns seven, and could probably expect a similar pattern for B rank and A rank, meaning he would possibly be eligible for his S rank trial around age thirteen or fourteen.

Rank would come when it did. It ultimately meant nothing. He was still a child, and his mother was making more than enough to support them both with her business. Power was everything, and he could work towards achieving that immediately. Alex shook the thoughts from his head and took off towards the construction office, putting his thoughts into practice.


	3. Chapter 2: Encountering the Mini Boss

**Chapter Two: Encountering the Mini Boss**

Alex had just returned, kicking his shoes off at the bottom of the stairs to the upper level of their combination café apartment. The shop closed in the midafternoon, typically around four. From then on, the two wait-staff would wipe down the store and mop, then help with the dishes. Once finished, the staff would leave, generally around five thirty, and his mother would prep the ingredients for the next day and then begin dinner. Alex always tried to make it home before the staff left for the night, as it forced him to make sure he took enough time to stop and shop for groceries or ingredients his mother asked him to pick up that morning.

He dropped his normal purchases of eggs, flour, and sugar on the counter where he watched his mom sweep down and quickly store them in the appropriate locations in a brief interlude of stirring, pouring, sniffing, tasting, and baking, all of which somehow continued as she danced through the area. This was her domain, and he was a simple spectator as she worked her own style of magic.

Thirty minutes later, everything had been concocted to her specifications while Alex continued working through the mountainous pile of dishes she accrued during her process. It was their standard roles, and they fell into them as she picked the ingredients for tonight's meal along with the necessary tools among those he had cleaned.

"Mom," Alex addressed her from his stool in front of the sink, his arms elbow deep in suds as he scrubbed one of her massive mixing bowls. Mariela looked up from her work seasoning and tenderizing the meat for their meal, though her hands never stopped working.

"Yes, dear?" The oil from the pan sitting on the stove began sizzling as she finished, tossing in the slabs of beef to sear.

"Master Makarov offered to take me on a C rank mission later this week, is it alright if I go?" This was a fairly normal interaction for them. Alex would ask and respect his mother's decision regardless of the outcome. It was part of their dynamic. He understood she was nervous about the inherent danger involved with the adventurer lifestyle, and that he was still only a child, so he would understand if she requested he delay such an excursion for a few more years.

Her hands had stopped moving briefly as she processed his request.

"He will be taking you personally?"

"Yes ma'am."

Her hands resumed their work.

"As long as you tell me which job you'll be doing, and how long you'll be gone, I'm okay with it."

Alex dried his hands and turned around to give her a hug from behind, burying his face in her lower back as he gave her a light squeeze.

"Thanks Mom. I'll need you to write a note for it later."

She hummed in response.

The next morning Alex found himself with a note in hand, outstretched to Makarov.

"Mom says it's fine as long as I keep her informed."

The small grandfatherly man gave him a joyful smile.

"Excellent! I already have one picked out." He passed a flier from his lounging spot on the bar. "Take the day to pack and prepare. We'll head out tomorrow and should be back within three days." Alex inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Thank you, I'm looking forward to it. See you tomorrow, Gramps."

Makarov waved it off.

"Too formal, you little brat. The respect is nice, but kids should leave the stuffy talking to the adults." Alex couldn't help but smirk in response.

"You say that now, Gramps, but give it a few years and you'll be treasuring every memory of our time together." Alex snickered maliciously as he turned and waved back as he left the hall, leaving Makarov with a cold shiver creeping down his spine. A premonition of a terrible future seemed just beyond his grasp.

A small smirk continued playing about Alex' features as he stepped into the cool fall afternoon. Stopping, he finally read over the contents of what would be his first C rank mission.

**Mission: Farmers from Peace Village request aid in dispatching several carnivorous pests that have been preying on their livestock.**

**Reward: 40000 Jewel, 2 bottles Premium Peace Whiskey**

Alex blinked once. Then twice.

That dirty old man just wanted an excuse to go get some expensive alcohol and used him as a convenient patsy. Not that he was at all upset. This was still an excellent opportunity for additional practical and combat experience. He just hung his head and sighed before moving off to fetch possible supplies for their excursion. He would need a full adventurer's kit, since he had yet to have a need to purchase most of the items required for adventurer forays.

A large weather proof tent, sleeping bag, extra blankets, portable stove set with one of those fancy lacrima fuel burners, food for a week, collapsible shovel, a multi-tool, lacrima flashlight, cordage, a first aid kit, one of those really nice bigger-on-the-inside rucks that he really needs to figure out how to make after he figures out how to weave together his own pocket dimension, a large knife or machete, one of those magic water cleaning bottles, a communication lacrima so he can keep in touch with his mom… or call for help, a compass, and several changes of clothes, including a heavy duty jacket. That should do for now, though he was surely forgetting something.

It would put a bit of a dent in his savings, but it was an investment that would be paying returns his entire adventuring career. The forty thousand jewel reward, roughly four hundred USD, would ease the immediate burden, not that it was much of one with how much he had managed to save.

His first stop was the bank, pulling out a decent portion of his savings. After that, he made his way towards and through the market, making his first stop at the magic shop in order to pick up a _Bigger Bag_™ in order to have something to carry all of his shopping list. It was the most expensive purchase he would make, but until he finished studying how requip magic worked and could apply it to his own, he would have to carry a pack.

After his first purchase of the bag, along with the other magic tools he needed, it was almost a game of ping pong as Alex bounced back and forth around the market to make his various purchases.

A few hours and a much lighter wallet later, Alex tramped through the front door of the café. Customarily waving, he passed through, stopping by the kitchen to let his mother know he was home before making his way upstairs to his room where he dropped the bulging bag at the foot of his bed. Flopping onto his mattress, Alex buried his head into his pillow, letting out a long sigh as his body relaxed.

He had barely stopped to rest over the past six months. After his father's funeral, Alex had thrown himself into his magic. He was constantly moving, flexing, stretching the limits of his ability, and the vast improvement in his familiarity and manipulation, alongside a massively expanded mana pool, showed the fruits of his labor. If his mana at the time of his awakening was comparable to a puddle, his current pool would be a small pond.

He still had roughly two years before Cana would make her Fairy Tail debut, though he wasn't sure on the exact date. The remaining few months of the current year, X770, the entirety of X771, and then however long until Cana makes her way to Magnolia in X772.

It was regrettable that he wouldn't be able to save Cornelia, but he was still too young. Without power and means, finding them and helping is beyond him. He could technically convince Gildarts to go do it, but it would be difficult without revealing he was more than an overly intelligent child. That was an option only if Gildarts ever came back to the guild. It had been six months and there had been no sign of the man. It was a likely possibility he might be out on a long journey and wouldn't be back until it's too late.

Alex sighed into his pillow. It was no use worrying about thing he couldn't control. He wouldn't be able to save Ur either, or at least save her from turning into ice, and Erza was already at the Tower of Heaven. He might be able to save the Strauss siblings' parents, but again, he had no information about where they lived. Finding a single family in the entirety of a country was bordering on impossible.

As far as things he _could _possibly influence, reconstituting Ur from the ice should theoretically be possible, as long as the majority of her essence is contained. He was still unsure how, but outlawed magic held possibilities. Soul Magic, Living Magic, or some other combination could be a potential solution.

He groaned into his pillow, pushing thoughts of the future from his mind as he made his way downstairs to help his mother for the day. She might put on a brave face, but he knew she was worried about the job. He would spend the remainder of the day with her as both help and distraction.

Alex rolled out of bed at his usual time of five thirty, took care of his morning ablutions, dressed, and grabbed his pack. He stopped by the kitchen on the way out, giving his mother a long, strong hug, then left quickly. He headed straight from the café to the guild hall, only stopping to grab a breakfast sandwich from one of the street vendors.

The master was waiting in his usual spot with his characteristic magazine, sipping a mug of coffee in place of his usual beer. The morning group was slowly trickling in when Alex plopped down on a stool next to Laxus and the rest of the future Thunder God Tribe. Master Makarov would have to handle a few guild matters and leave someone in charge for the next few days before they could leave.

Gildarts was still unavailable, which left Macao and Wakaba as the oldest notable members. Alex remembered Macao eventually became the fourth master through circumstance, though he was still a bit young, twenty-two compared to the thirty-six he would be when Tenrou Island occurs. His contemplation was interrupted and answered when Makarov appointed a woman named Janelle Williams as his liaison for the next few days.

She was remarkably unremarkable, which might be why she was never mentioned in canon. Brown hair, brown eyes adorned with a pair of prescription glasses. Still pretty as most wizards were, with a decent figure. She seemed more like the quiet library type, with a soft voice to match. She would have fallen right into Alex' strike zone in his old life, and if he was honest, he was still very much attracted to her despite the lack of hormonal drive.

The age gap of some twenty years tempered those fires however. He was five, and she was at least in her mid-twenties. As he silently followed the Master out of the hall, his thoughts continued. Maybe she would turn into a cougar? Or a milf? Ideas to explore once he was sixteen and considered an adult. He would inevitably be surrounded by beautiful women as part of the guild, and knew that the unnatural beauty, accompanied by hormones, would play havoc with his mind and body.


	4. Chapter 3: C-Rank

**Chapter Three: C-Rank**

The trip to Peace Village was immensely uneventful. The pair of wizards took a train bound for Era, though they never arrived. Peace Village was located on the far side of a river just south of the halfway point of this train line, with no designated stops. As such, they improvised.

A few hours into their trip, Alex found himself standing on the connecting coupling between two of the cars, where his master had left him with a single word.

"Jump!"

Alex sighed.

No wonder the younger generation ran so rampant, with a master as carefree as this. Flexing his magic, Alex followed suit, flinging himself off the side of the car where he free fell a scant few feet before managing to catch himself on a section of space.

Alex flung himself over to Makarov, dropping to the ground to his master's raised eyebrows. As the two turned to the South, Alex answered his unasked question.

He called the technique "Space Striding", and utilized it frequently to move about quickly both in combat and as a form of travel. It also functioned as an alternative for flight, as he could continually fling himself higher into the air as long as he had the mana resources to maintain a foothold.

The basis was formed from saturating a section of the fabric of space with his mana, allowing it to become tangible. He could also coat the bottom of his feet or shoes with a layer of his ethernano allowing him to step on what was once an incorporeal substance, though it required more precision and concentration to perform. He still lacked a true understanding of how his magic interfaced with spatial fabric, but his natural affinity allowed him the ability to fundamentally brute force the process for a minimal uptick in mana cost.

With the flexibility the technique imbued, Alex was able to essentially slingshot himself around as though he was bouncing off an impossibly elastic trampoline. A metaphor that was similar but not entirely accurate, as with a trampoline, there was a delay before the elasticity counteracted the prior force of the person jumping. That was not the case with Space, as the change in direction was instantaneous as soon as Alex provided the impetus for the movement, in essence the 'step' portion of the technique. How his body coped with the sudden changes in velocity and force, he ultimately chocked up to _'it's magic'_, and left it at that for the moment. Something about the ethernano flowing in his body kept it from destroying itself.

He hypothesized the reason wizard battles ultimately became massive, destructive brawls was due to this peculiarity. Some damage could seep through a body's natural ethernano defenses, but for the most part, a wizard could take a huge beating until their mana reserves were spent. It fit that those with larger mana pools were therefore considered more dangerous wizards.

The opportunity to discuss magic theory with one of the Wizard Saints during their travel was an enlightening experience that Alex took full advantage of. With the heavy emphasis of emotion on the function of spell intensity and strength, pieces of the puzzle that was Earth Land's magic system began to resolve themselves, though questions continued to arise despite some theories providing answers. Makarov, and Fairy Tail in general, put emphasis on Love and Bonds of Friendship, arguably the same idea, as passed down from Mavis Vermillion's prior teachings on the One Magic. Anger, hatred, greed, happiness, joy, depression; all emotions could provide additional power to spells, but the guild held that Love provided the greatest.

However, that was only a part of the algorithm. Almost all wizards developed or learned certain special techniques for their magic, giving the moves names, and shouting them out when used. While discussing it with Makarov, Alex came to the conclusion that it actually served a practical function.

It came down to linking image and emotion. All magic moves functioned with an image as the base of the technique. Imagination played a huge role in how a wizard utilized their mana, so having well defined images or patterns that could easily be recalled at a moment's notice was required for any competent wizard who wished to keep their life. The shouting portion linked directly back to the emotion is power ideology. A familiar image is reinforced by a strong emotion attached to it; therefore shouting helped by artificially manipulating the body to a state of increased excitement, which the wizard then channeled into the technique pattern.

Theoretically, anyway. It was entirely possible to perform magical wonders with zero articulation or motion, habits by which also helped reinforce image patterns, as long as the image and emotion attached to it were solid enough. Most of the theory was not discussed between the two, as Alex still felt the need to maintain his identity as a child, but a few seemingly childlike questions and answers paved the way for a large amount of definable ideas.

Alex planned to put both of his theorized concepts into practice. If he could develop a comparable system that allowed not giving his moves away in a fight, even if it was only his primary combat techniques, that edge would be devastating to his enemies later in life.

When future enemies were brought up, Makarov had tried to laugh the subject off, telling him he was still too young to be worrying about future threats, and to leave that to the adults.

"Master," Alex began. "I understand where you're coming from, but Fairy Tail has enemies, even today. Fairy Tail's enemies are my enemies, and Fiore has many dark sides to it. Earthland, has many dark sides to it." Makarov grimaced in acknowledgement. His ward would know, with his family's history. Alex took a moment, then continued.

"Bosco alone is a haven of darkness. Their slave trade sitting just across our border is a threat simply by existing so close to our home. I may still be a weak child, but I refuse to be a weak adult, unable to protect those I cherish. I've already lost one person I loved in this life, I refuse to lose another."

His impromptu impassioned speech left Makarov speechless for a time.

"M' boy, no child should be made to feel the weight you already bear on your shoulders. Those of us who hold responsibility for the future have failed you, and for that, I'm truly sorry."

Silence stretched between the two as Peace Village came into view.

"Master, it's not your fault. You do what you can with the hand you're dealt." Alex' words seemed to lift Makarov's spirits, if only slightly. "However, before we arrive, I have one last question pertaining to the darkness." He stopped walking, turning to address the master directly.

"Master, the guild has a policy against murder. My question: is that rule for the crime, or a sweeping rule for killing in general?" Once more Makarov was struck momentarily speechless.

"Son, I hate that you're even contemplating such a thing. I wish I could tell you that killing is entirely forbidden, but I am not so naïve as to believe the world we live in could be so simple. It's specifically for the crime of murder, which will instantly classify a wizard as a dark mage." Makarov's tone was severe, his face a hardened expression that spoke of many past trials.

"I'm glad, Master." Alex said with relief visibly painted on his face. "Sometimes, the choice between life and death is made for us. I'd have hated to have killed in defense of myself, my friends and family, or the guild, only to have been kicked out of the place I consider home." With one of his biggest concerns resolved, Alex continued towards their objective, a somewhat lighter step propelling him forward.

Makarov stared after one of his children, lost in sad contemplation that such a child was forced by circumstance to grow up far faster than he should.

Upon arrival, the countryside village greeted the two with hospitable warmth. Word had quickly spread, the pair quickly being seated before the chief and briefed on the situation.

"Good afternoon, sir, I'm Alex and this is Master Makarov of Fairy Tail. He's mostly here in a supervisory role, so please act as though I'm working alone for this request." Alex began with a slight bow.

"Of course, of course, child. I understand completely, nevertheless, allow me to extend a bit of hospitality regardless of the situation. Please, Alex, Master, take a seat and refreshments will arrive shortly."

The wizards did as instructed, enjoying a few moments of small talk about the village and its inhabitants. The chief was a middle aged man sporting a full, well-kept beard with an equally full head of hair. Years of honest work had gifted him with an impressive, tanned physique. Minutes later, a young teenage woman bearing a remarkable resemblance entered the room with a tray.

Alex reflexively snapped his magic out, months of practice allowing an instantaneous reaction when the girl, distracted with studying her visitors, stumbled on the raised edge of the rug. A block of space surrounding her solidified, catching her and the spilled contents of her tray midflight. It almost looked as though time reversed itself as liquids and finger foods floated back into their respective positions, the girl's position righting itself as she floated forward a few feet to the edge of the table, blushing immensely in embarrassment, though it was somewhat covered by her expression of wonderment.

Alex let out a shallow breath as he released his magic. Utilizing his Stasis technique still drained him fairly quickly. The mana requirements to influence such a large volume of Space were exponentially higher than single layers or strings that he typically manipulated. Casting the pair of civilians a small grin, Alex slumped slightly addressing Makarov.

"I'll have to spend some additional time expanding my mana pool when I return to the guild. I thought I had made decent progress but it appears I won't be able to progress much further without expanding my resources significantly first."

Makarov snorted.

"Boy, you just froze close to one hundred cubic feet of space, then manipulated the internal components while maintaining the spell. The amount of fine control you have over your magic is downright envious. Increasing your mana pool will just make you more of a little monster than you already are." Alex laughed in response.

"Still, Gramps, it appears that's my biggest current weakness. I'll spend some time shoring it up once we return." Makarov nodded in acknowledgement, the pair returning their attention to a star struck young woman and her amused father.

"This is my daughter, Camelia," Chief Ossef introduced. "She's fourteen, and holds a bit of an obsession for wizards and guilds." Camelia blushed slightly at her father's teasing, but silently inclined her head in greeting as she went about providing refreshments for her guests, seating herself on the side of the table closest to Alex once she was finished.

Alex gave her a smile and quiet thank you, popping one of the bite sized sandwiches into his mouth and taking a swig of some sort of fruit juice before the conversation picked back up. With widened eyes Alex looked down at the plate, then back at Camelia, then back at the plate once more before the conversation finally resumed.

"Now then, we can address the elephant in the room." Chief Ossef stated as he set his cup of tea down. Alex nodded and copied his action.

"The mission you posted simply stated carnivorous pests, do you have any additional information you can share on the targets? Species, a nesting location, and numbers would be ideal, though I can work with less, of course. The intel would simply make the job safer and faster." Alex went straight to business. Ossef chuckled at the strange dichotomy of the business like child.

"Straightforward and to the point, I can appreciate that, kid. We believe from the tracks discovered we're dealing with a den of Norgwecks that have over populated their environment." Alex nodded in understanding. Norgwecks were small dinosaur like reptiles that reminded him of the tiny velociraptor bird dinosaurs (Compsognathus) from his old world. "Some of our hunters managed to follow their trail a few miles southwest to a fairly large stretch of forest near the river before turning back. They estimated something like forty of the little bastards are terrorizing the area. We don't need them entirely purged, culling the majority would suffice." Alex nodded once more.

"I understand, thank you." Alex popped one of the small sandwiches in his mouth once more, chewing and swallowing quickly. "I have one more question, then we'll head out." Ossef looked at him askance as Alex turned to address Camelia.

"I noticed you have above average ethernano levels, and these snacks you prepared are amazing. Are you a hedge wizard by chance?" Camelia was startled at being addressed so suddenly, but pulled her composure together, flicking a glance at her father who nodded in encouragement. With a soft voice, Camelia responded.

"Yes, though my magic is rather silly. I'm a Cooking Mage." She gave a small embarrassed smile while Alex simply looked thoughtfully at her. Addressing her father once more.

"Chief, I'm sorry but I'm going to attempt to steal your daughter away." He pointed at the snacks present. "Those are amazing." Chief Ossef was stunned for a moment before breaking down into chuckles.

"Aren't you a little young to be thinking about women, kiddo?" Ossef asked, still giggling slightly. Alex snorted in response.

"Yes, I'm only five, however my mother runs one of the most well-known cafes in Magnolia. If I combine my mother's recipes with your daughter's magic, my family will be serving the entirety of Fiore by the end of next year." Alex turned back to Camelia. "No rush, it's a standing offer, so you can take your time deciding." Alex finally addressed Makarov after Camelia nodded in confirmation.

"Alright Gramps, I think I'm ready to head out." Alex drained the rest of his juice then stood. "My family runs Café de Patisserie, should you decide to accept. We'll return tomorrow after completing the request, but like I said before, it's a standing offer, so don't feel pressured to make an immediate decision." Alex gave the older girl a big smile and a small bow to the chief. "Thank you for the hospitality." After getting a similar response, the wizards left, heading in the direction of their quarry.


	5. Chapter 4: The Hunt

**A/N:** Shout out to DoomMarine55 for my first review on this site. Thank you for making zero constructive contribution to the story and insulting my time and effort in providing you free entertainment. I quit writing a few years ago because of people like you. Thankfully, I got over it and kept going later on. Insulting others like that is a good way to stomp out new and prospective writers' desire to create and share. It's hurtful to both the individual and community. Hopping off my soapbox now. -Imbalance

**Chapter Four: The Hunt **

Following the specified directions, Alex set off at a light jog with Master Makarov on his heels. Two uneventful hours later, the pair came to the area believed to hold the nest. It was readily apparent something was amiss. Typical sounds of nature were missing from the area, though there was a noticeable presence of creatures living within. Bushes rustled, leaves and limbs shook, shadows at the corners of their vision flickered and shifted.

They were being stalked from the moment they stepped beneath the boughs of the wooded domain. A frown was ever present on Alex' mouth as the pair trekked further into the woods.

"This is going to be a pain without destroying the entirety of the forest." He muttered while thinking out loud. Makarov grunted in agreement. Alex continued muttering as they moved deeper within.

"The best chance to force a confrontation and wipe out most of their numbers is to threaten their nests, though doing so will be dangerous." He quickly continued his train of thought. "Cornered and protective creatures are always the most aggressive, so tactics will be shock and awe as soon as a sufficient number of enemies have gathered." A quintet of miniature raptors chose this moment to confront the humans invading their territory.

"Active defensive response to encroaching, we're closing in."

Alex' mana saturated the area around him, claiming the spatial fabric as his domain. The five feathered monsters gave little threatening shouts in an attempt to frighten them away. They failed.

Alex stretched his hand out, grabbing a single thread of space between his fingers and plucked it, sending a slicing line of energy at an angle through the area in front of him.

"String Theory."

The five creatures split apart at various points, the line severing their bodies neatly. Makarov grunted in surprise and concern.

"Don't worry, Master. I have nonlethal versions of most of my attacks. It's in how I picture the construction and release, along with how much energy I put into each construct." Alex soothed the obvious question, immediately demonstrating. He grasped a bundle of strings, pulling them only slightly and releasing them as a group in the direction of a tree.

"Spatial Blow."

A crunching sound could be heard, the targeted tree's bark having splintered. Makarov hummed thoughtfully as they continued towards the center of the area.

"Impressive, m' boy. Just remember to have fun and relax occasionally. You've been moving nonstop since joining Fairy Tail, I would hate to see you burn out, physically, mentally, or magically."

Alex nodded, voicing his agreement.

"I understand, Master. I'll spend some time reading and hanging out with Laxus when we return. My mom will appreciate having me around for a little while, I know she's a lot more worried about this trip than she let on." Makarov grunted as they were ambushed for a second time by eight Norgwecks.

"Still too serious, kid. Learn to lighten up."

"Sorry, Master. Give it a few years," was his only response as he proceeded to punt one of the creatures that crept too close into a nearby tree, instantly ending its life with a crunch. Three more fell in the next moment to String Theory and the remaining four quickly retreated in the face of Alex' violent aggression.

"Nine," he lazily commented, never stopping his march forward. Somewhere between thirty to forty remained, most of which would likely be rallying to defend their eggs and young.

He was correct, proceeding unimpeded the remainder of the journey until he stumbled out of the brush into a large clearing. Nests of eggs and small, ugly birds dotted the surrounding area, some of which having been dug within the small hill rising from the earth. He took all of this in in addition to the mass of feathered creatures that stood silent as the opposing sides appraised each other. Makarov watched perched on a low tree limb.

It was an almost unspoken moment when both sides burst into motion. Alex immediately bounced himself into the sky, narrowly avoiding the mass of snapping teeth and scraping claws that assaulted his previous position. Flipping around and standing on a square of fabric, Alex quickly began bombarding the mass of small bodies beneath him.

"Bundled String Theory," he stated repeatedly. Several times he grasped out, alternating with both hands, and grabbed a bundle of spatial threads. A quick pull and release had lines of spatial energy flying about the clearing, cleanly slicing through the hordes of flesh. It was over in moments, the magical bombardment making quick work of mincing his enemies. Very few managed to escape, which was ultimately fine. Alex never planned to set out and genocide the species. They would eventually repopulate, but only after the forest itself managed to recover as well.

Very few of the nests survived his assault, for which he was glad. He would have destroyed them individually if necessary, but deliberately doing so would have left a bad taste in his mouth. Still stepping on space, Alex hopped his way to Master Makarov, the small old man surveying the scene with raised eyebrows.

"I think you went overboard, m' boy."

"I have to respectfully disagree, Master."

"Oho?"

Alex nodded.

"I completed the contract in the fastest, cleanest, least damaging way to both civilization and the environment." He clinically continued, stating his view from the most objective stance he could find. "I didn't get an accurate count of how many survived, but it was less than ten. It'll allow them to move and repopulate without extinguishing them entirely, while also clearing this area to be reinvigorated."

Makarov nodded along as Alex listed his points.

"I concede the issue. I was mostly referring to the charnel house you created by turning the poor creatures into puree."

Alex took a moment.

"Ah."

He took another moment.

"If I told you I did it to speed along the biodegradation of the corpses, would you buy it?"

Makarov burst into laughter.

"If you had fed me that line from the start, perhaps I would have, dear child!" His hysterics continued, the two humans backtracking through the woods while Alex wore a bemused smile at his Master's mirth.

The evening sun was kissing the horizon as Alex and Makarov strutted back through the town gates, quickly being ushered to Chief Ossef's home. It was a quick exchange, a confirmation of completion, a few details regarding the few surviving creatures, followed by a signature for documentation purposes, the money having already been deposited with, and escrowed by, the Magic Council to be dispensed and transferred upon notification of completion.

It would be within his private account before the pair returned to the guild, the chief making the call through a communication lacrima. The pair would spend the night at the local tavern and return in a similar fashion to the way they departed, hitching a ride on a passing train. A genial smile to the chief's daughter later, the two were out the door and off to bed.

The next morning saw them trekking along the tracks heading east bound while waiting for the next train to pass by. They'd left at the crack of dawn, bidding the village goodbye to the waves of the chief and his daughter. To Alex' relief, a train was soon spotted in the distance and the pair were quickly settled into comfortable seats heading back home. He was very fit for his age, however most of his physique had been honed within the confines of civilization, and the hiking and rougher terrain accompanied with his luggage had left his body sore.

As the train blurred past, Makarov just gave a "Hup!", and attached himself to a passing car. Alex groaned, channeling his magic to safeguard his body from the sudden acceleration before mimicking the old man and latching on to a car a few cabins down. It was incredibly jarring for Alex, being suddenly ripped along but only feeling a light tugging against his body at the sudden change of force. Magic was bullshit.

Shaking his head, Alex made his way forward until he found his master four cars in front of his own, the diminutive old man already sipping some of the whiskey they'd received straight from the bottle. Alex hopped up into the seat and stared at Makarov with a nonplussed, dead look in his eyes.

"Master, if I didn't know any better, I'd almost think you'd used me as an excuse to get your paws on some free alcohol." He delivered this statement in the most deadpan, monotone voice he could muster. His master just grinned and took another sip.

"It's a good thing you know better then, m'boy!"

Alex let out a put-upon sigh then chuckled in good humor. They had a couple hours left in the trip, and Alex, both his inner child and adult mind, were excited to tell his mom all about his first foray into the greater world. Hearing his genuine excitement and getting all the details of his first adventure would help relieve a lot of the anxiety he knew she must be feeling with having him out of her sight, plus, he needed to tell her about the cooking magic girl, and the chieftain, and the forest, though perhaps with fewer enemies and a less graphic version of what really happened… and maybe leave out jumping off and onto a train. She probably wouldn't appreciate that.

His thoughts were interrupted by a gunshot at the entrance to the car.

"Alright fuckers! This is a robbery! Everybody keep calm and cooperate, and nobody has to get hurt! We want your money, not your lives!" A stereotypically dressed masked man kept shouting orders, one of his compatriots going down the rows with a bag for wallets, pouches, and purses. Alex tossed a glance to his master who simply continued happily sipping his poison of choice. He shrugged, looking back out the window. He was a kid; he wasn't going to be robbed anyway. Of course, Murphy always comes knocking when you least expect it.

When the assailants finally reached their seats, Makarov had just raised the bottle back to his lips, humming pleasantly all the while as the men shouted orders into their ears. Alex stared at them in mock confusion until finally one of them lost their patience, knocking the bottle from his master's hand and spilling its contents all over the floor. Alex immediately shrunk into the corner of his seat. Makarov's face had instantly dropped, his eyes shadowed in a way that spoke of terror, pain, and death to his transgressors.

The attack was sudden. Unexpected, immediate, and brutal, Makarov's hand expanded and slammed the three men harassing them into the floor, instantly knocking them unconscious. The other two men guarding the entrances were equally unconscious within the next second as that same arm stretched out and flicked them into the walls. Alex was left staring as they peeled off the walls, crumpling to the floor, Makarov's arm having already shrunk back to his reduced size where he used it to pick up and dust off the spilled bottle. Alex glanced between his master and the bodies a few times, the old man grumbling under his breath about disrespectful young brats with a disgruntled expression scrawled across his frowning face as he took a sip from the much-depleted bottle.

Alex sighed. He seemed to be doing that more often than he probably should. Pulling some rope from his backpack, he set about restraining the men. Learning how to tie various knots in his last life was turning into a valuable skill in this one, though he definitely didn't regret that BDSM phase. That girlfriend had opened his eyes to things he never knew he enjoyed.

Dragging the other two members to the group, Alex looped them all together and used an overabundance of rope to practically cocoon them together. By the time he was done, the train was just beginning to pull into the station, the civilians all having retrieved their belongings from the fallen bag sitting next to the now bundled men. He had contemplated stringing the group up like a pinata but ultimately ran out of time, the authorities coming in and picking the group up after assuring Alex his rope would be returned to him later.

The civilians had spent the remainder of the trip profusely thanking the two of them, even as they left the station receiving thanks and praise. Alex just grumbled. If they were truly thankful, they would have helped him drag the bodies together and tie them up instead of watching a five-year-old child haul hundreds of pounds of wastes of flesh around. He was only a little salty. Just a tiny bit.

The pair finally arrived back at the guild hall, the master kicking open the doors to announce their return, the place going deathly silent in an instant. Makarov glared around at all of his members as they looked at him expectantly.

"We're back, brats! He passed!" Everyone broke out into cheers as Makarov launched himself over the heads of those present, perching on his normal spot on the bar. "First round is on me!" The cheers doubled in strength as the nearest group hoisted Alex up in a flurry of bewildering movement and noise, tossing him into the air where he was passed around like a volleyball between the various parties. Alex just kept looking around in confusion, whispering under his breath during one of his trips into the air.

"What the _fuck?_"


	6. Chapter 5: Cana

**Chapter Five: Cana**

Alex stuck to his word for the following weeks, taking some time off from training to spend some additional quality time with his mother and helping around the café. His initial return had nearly warranted an entire secondary celebration within their establishment, their clientele having heard as word got around that Mariela's boy was off on his first big adventure. When he came strutting back through the door, his mom had nearly crushed him in her hug as she scooped him up, tears of happiness and relief rolling down her face as the people seated clapped and cheered. It was strange, but nice.

Once his mother had calmed down enough, he was set up atop a chair and made to tell the tale of his outing. He did his best to be entertaining without exaggerating, and appeared to at least partially succeed if the gasps, smiles, and cheers at the end of the story were anything to go by. It also served a triple purpose to let his mom know she didn't need to worry, and filled her in on the village girl with cooking magic in the process. The conversation they had after closing for the night was one Alex would never forget.

"I'm so, so very proud of you Alex," Mariela said as she held him close. He did his best to squeeze her back. He knew she meant it, but he also knew she was equally as worried, and upset that he may be growing up too fast.

"Thank you, Mom. I'm going to be taking the next couple weeks off too. I haven't spent a lot of time with you since I joined Fairy Tail, so I'm gonna help out around the café for a little bit." The tension, relief, and joy were almost palpable as the woman sighed and smiled.

"I'm very much looking forward to it. My big boy, getting so strong." Alex blushed in embarrassment. No matter how old, a mother can always hit their children's weakest points.

"Me too, Mom. I also wanted to let you know. Master Makarov hasn't officially promoted me to C rank 'cause I'm still too young, but he said that as long as you'll sign off on the missions, he'll let me go with other groups to make sure I have backup while I get field experience." He felt his mother's tension escalate again, but she just as quickly relaxed.

"I understand. That's fine with me, as long as I get to see the missions before you leave, and you keep me updated while you're gone." His only response was a nod of agreement.

"Mom, can I sleep with you tonight?" He mumbled. He really was exhausted after the trip, dealing with the party at Fairy Tail, followed by entertaining the café guests. He was practically falling asleep in his mother's lap. She stood, smoothly hoisting him up in her arms.

"Of course, my little wizard. Get some sleep, Mommy's got you." He was already falling into the abyss when she finished, words barely grumbling out as he fully passed into sleep.

"I love you, Mom." He didn't hear her response.

"I love you too, my precious baby boy."

* * *

The next two weeks turned out to be one of the best decisions of his current life. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts and concerns, he had really neglected everyone else he was close to, primarily his mother. Simply having him in close proximity, helping around the café, baking together, watching his little body teeter around while serving their customers, all seemed to brighten her day. Two weeks of interaction and bonding did wonders for her emotional state, pulling her from the depression of losing the love of her life and watching her son work himself into the ground. Alex was relieved, resolving to spend more time around his mom from then on, perhaps starting with taking weekends off. Spending a couple days every week together would be a good start. After a few more C rank missions, he should be able to afford to buy her something nice as well. Magnolia had a well-known, very expensive spa available if he made a reservation. Ideas for later.

When he wasn't helping his mother with the café, Alex spent his time hanging out in the guild hall with the younger members. Laxus and the other members of the future Thunder God Tribe were his primary friends, as the other main cast members were either too young or had yet to join. He had affiliated with the group previously, but had been so caught up in the power and mission grind he had failed to cultivate anything further beyond passing acquaintances. That changed over the course of the two weeks.

Laxus was still somewhat arrogant, his power level for his age was notable, but his ego could easily be taken down to normal levels with a few carefully placed comments about embarrassing mistakes he had made on missions, or the one time he tried to hit on a teenage girl when he was eight and was brutally shut down. His friends were never malicious with their comments though. They all held genuine affection for each other, and readily adopted Alex into their group despite him being a few years younger.

At the end of the two weeks, Alex stuck to his personal promises, making sure that while he continued training his magic pool's capacity, he took the time to socialize in the guild, getting to know Nab and Wan Chanzi in addition to the Thunder God quartet. Nab was almost a younger identical twin to his older anime counterpart, constantly browsing the guild board for missions but almost never actually taking one. Wan was almost unbelievably quiet, engaging in conversation when required in order to be courteous, but never speaking in excess or volunteering additional information. Alex respected that, and the two got along famously, many days simply sitting in silence together, Alex often with a book perched in hand.

With his increased presence, Alex' mother was a much happier woman and could often be heard humming or singing while in the kitchen of their little café. She still worried and fretted over him on days just before and just after he returned from chaperoned C rank missions, but with every successful return she worried a little less and smiled a little more. The all-expenses paid spa day he eventually managed to save up for to spoil her on her birthday, a little over a year since their initial move, in the spring of X771, served in equal measure to reassure and relax the stressed woman. The days after her return from that present had him fending off would-be suitors left and right, to both their annoyance. She was focused on her business and her son, while he wanted nothing to do with another father figure, let alone allowing one of the horn dogs any sort of casual interaction. His mother deserved the best, and it sure as hell wasn't any of them.

This life style continued uninterrupted until the week of Alexander's seventh birthday. X772 was a big year for both him and the guild. He would finally be officially promoted to C rank and be given the ability to take the missions independently. He had no plans or desires to make or join a team at this time, or even in the future. If Team Natsu came to fruition even with his changes to the timeline, he had little interest in formally joining their merry band of heroes, though he might take the time to babysit Natsu every now and then to make sure he didn't do stupid shit like destroy Hargeon.

The guild on the other hand, was finally getting one of their future best mages as a member.

Cana Alberona walked through the doors of Fairy Tail the day after Gildarts Clive returned from whatever he had been up to for the past two years.

* * *

Alex had strolled through the doors of the guild hall that morning, plopping down on a stool by the bar where Makarov had very typically perched himself as he perused this week's Sorcerer Weekly Magazine. His birthday and subsequent promotion was still a few days away, so he was unsurprised to see that Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe were nowhere in sight, most likely meaning they were out on a job. Alex pulled the folded request from his pocket, the signature of the client confirming a completed contract adorning the bottom. Smoothing out the creases, he placed it on a small stack of similar fliers before turning to address the Master.

"Gramps, mission completed to the client's satisfaction. She already transferred the funds." Alex informed him as he peeked over the shoulder of the old man. His hormones had not yet started pushing him into puberty, but that didn't stop him from appreciating the beauty of the models featured in SW magazine. Makarov flipped the page to the centerfold revealing the Wizard of the Week model. Another one of Mermaid Heel's girls, though that was to be expected.

Alex had a running theory that the extreme concentration of Ethernano in a wizard's body altered them in ways he had yet to understand. Most mages lived well beyond standard human life expectancy, lengthened even further depending on the type of magic they utilized. On top of that, Alex had yet to meet a wizard who was not at least above average in attractive features.

Nevertheless, the centerfold model deserved her spot there for the week. She was gorgeous. Black eyes that seemed to snare the soul with a standing 'come fuck me' invitation. They matched her long, straight black hair which flowed over her shoulders, framing a heart shaped face all on top of a bust made from the dreams of men, a flat stomach, wide hips, and long legs. She almost seemed to border on the uncanny valley with how perfect she appeared.

"Master," Alex spoke after a moment to study the image, the guild slowly growing quiet behind them. Makarov only hummed in acknowledgement as they both continued to study the picture. "You have good taste. I expect your help and advice when it's time to start forming my harem." All of which was stated in perfectly serious deadpan. He received a grunt of acknowledgement once more. Another minute passed before Makarov performed a classic anime spit take while sipping from his beer.

"_HAAAAAAAA?!"_ was his incredulous response as he looked at the now smirking seven year old attempting to hold his mirth in behind his hand and failing miserably. Alex quickly reached his limit, bursting into laughter at the look of pure incredulity on Makarov's face. It was several minutes before he managed to reign in his hysterics, wiping the tears from his eyes as much of the guild did the same.

Off to the side, Alex spotted a girl sitting on one of the bar stools giggling despite the sadness that obviously sat on her shoulders. He hopped off the bar and strolled over grinning.

"Hey! You're new!" He thrust his hand out still smiling. "I'm Alex, Alex Crosius. Who're you?"

The girl smiled in response taking his hand and shaking it softly.

"Cana, Cana Alberona," she responded shyly. Alex turned their hands, gripping the ends of her fingers while he placed a soft kiss just below the knuckles.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Cana. Let's go on a mission together sometime soon!" One of the nearby men watching their interaction let out a wolf whistle, causing both of them to blush as their hands separated.

"Thank you, Alex, I'd like that." Alex only nodded in response with a small smile before turning to the room and cracking his knuckles.

"Alright you bunch of misfits, if you give up the one who did it, I'll spare the rest of you." Everyone quickly pointed to one man who just as quickly made a dash for the door.

"Traitors!" was the only word he let out before letting out a yelp of surprise as he was lifted off his feet and suspended in the air. A rope wound out from behind the bar and quickly strung him up from the hall rafters.

"Wakaba, next time I'll string you up outside Kardia Cathedral so the whole town can see you!" The guild simply devolved back into laughter, Cana among them as some of the sadness seemed to lift from her posture. Master Makarov watched the whole scene with a soft smile before snatching the end of the rope from Alex' hands and letting out a roar.

"Alright you dumbasses! We have a Wakaba piñata today! Land a hit, get a drink on the house!"

Alex turned around to address Cana once more with a grin as people started swinging poles at Wakaba as he twisted and turned, using his air magic to push himself back and forth to avoid being hit.

"Lemme know when you wanna do a job together! I'll be C rank starting Friday, so as long as it's C or D and Gramps approves it, it'll be fine." A body suddenly crashed into the edge of the bar next to them, the piñata swings quickly devolving into a full on brawl as soon as one of the poles accidentally hit another participant.

"My work here is done." Alex nodded in satisfaction, hands on his hips as he surveyed the tangle of limbs and fists occurring in the middle of the room. Turning, Alex headed towards the door, shouting above the noise, "I live upstairs in the same building as Café de Patisserie! Drop by tomorrow morning, and we can eat breakfast!" Receiving her nod of acceptance, and with one last backward wave, Alex strolled through the door and headed home for the day.

Now that Cana was here, events would start to come together. He would be her friend and confidante, helping her improve her magic and reconcile with Gildarts. Having a friend her age and fixing her family baggage should help keep her away from alcohol too, or at least the excessive amounts of it.

Alex spent the rest of the day helping his mother, completely oblivious to what his actions would bring the next morning.

* * *

**A/N:**

You guys are lucky. I've had this Cana section written for a long time, so you'll be getting a couple chapters for this story pretty rapidly.

As a brief note of assurance – while some aspects of this fic will have fixit characteristics, there's a lot that can't and won't be able to be changed with the time, age, and abilities Alex has at his disposal. If that's a concern, don't sweat it too much. Just like any other story, mistakes will be made, in some cases fate will run its course, in others perhaps it will be diverted. I'm a big fan of ruining canon with fanfics. If I wanted to read about the canon story, I'd go pick up the LNs or manga, so look forward to big changes where Alex can manage them, and some canon overlap where he can't.


	7. Chapter 6: Cana Alberona-Clive

**Chapter Six: Cana Alberona-Clive**

Yawning, Alex rolled out from beneath his sheets at his normal time of five thirty, where he promptly stretched. Trundling to the bathroom, he washed his face and brushed his teeth, tossing on some of his loose casual clothing resembling his old world's standard mono color t-shirts and basketball shorts. Cana most likely wouldn't arrive for a little while longer, so he would have time to tell his mom he was expecting a visitor.

Thirty minutes later, Mariela had already been bustling about the kitchen for an hour and a half when Alex peeked his head in. Stepping into her flow, Alex picked up some of the stirring and oven work with his magic, leaving her to do the prepping, filling, and icing for the pastries as they needed. Alex slowly picked up more and more of the work, giving his mother a brief break as equipment began floating and twirling throughout the air. Alex alerted her as she began preparing his normal breakfast. With his help she had some time to relax in the morning, and she insisted on spending some of it making his food.

"Mom, I have a friend coming for breakfast. She just joined the guild, and looked really sad, so I'm trying to help her settle in."

"Oh? I'll make double then, and reserve a couple slices of that breakfast cheesecake you like. I'm looking forward to meeting her!"

Alex hummed in acknowledgement as he closed his eyes and focused on a particularly intricate bit of icing work while ensuring the orders coming in were all put together correctly. Tea and coffee poured, pastries plated, breakfast sandwiches warm, plates and cups floated to tables two, nine, and five. The breakfast rush was always hectic, so he helped out where he could. The customers loved watching their food come dancing through the air towards them as well, so the mornings were always fun. It helped get them ahead of the work.

About an hour later, Alex felt Cana walk into his Domain. His ethernano saturated the café, letting him manipulate everything within with his magic with ease, as well as keep track of all the activity taking place. He could feel her increased ethernano levels relative to the civilian clientele, alongside her smaller stature.

"Mom, she's here."

"I'll go bring her back then. Breakfast is ready and served, so once I'm back you can start handing it back over to me, though you've mostly finished the morning and afternoon work… Maybe I'll eat with you?"

"If you want, I don't mind. It might be good for her."

"Alright then, be right back sweetie."

Alex watched as his mother introduced herself, coaxing the shy girl into the café from her hiding spot by the door and holding her hand through the crowd. It was a bit strange to connect the boisterous canon Cana to this timid and shy child.

Alex put the finishing touches on the last set of pastries just as the two walked through the kitchen doors. Cana excitedly called out to him once she spotted him sitting on the island.

"Alex!" He opened his eyes and smiled, setting down the last of his tools and utensils.

"Hey, Cana. She probably already introduced herself, but this is my mom, Mariela. Mom, this is Cana, she's a new Fairy Tail wizard."

"Alex, you didn't tell me your new friend was such a cute little girl!" His mom had a dangerous sparkle in her eye as she led the two of them upstairs to their private dining table. Most of the other friends he had introduced were either male, or much older. Laxus, Warren, Freed, Evergreen, Bickslow, Nab, Laki, Jet, Droy, Alzack, and Bisca were the closest to his age, but he only really associated with Laxus regularly. The others were still learning the basics of their magic, despite having been born or quickly registered into the guild.

"Ah, uh…" Alex stuttered, briefly off balance. "I didn't realize it mattered, sorry Mom." He scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"It's no big deal. Cana, you'll have to tell me all about yourself and Fairy Tail. Alex has been a member for a couple years, but it'll be nice to get a fresh view. I saw you came by yourself, do your parents know you're here?" His mother swept through the room, leading Cana to her seat at the table.

"Umm…" Cana shyly began, her mood slightly dampened by the mention of parents while looking down somewhat wide eyed at the amount of food available. Alex grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze to help ground her, and a smile to help her relax.

"My…" She began, hesitating. "No… my… my mommy died recently." Alex could see her eyes watering as she tried to hold back the tears. His mom simply looked shocked for a moment before sweeping Cana up into a big hug.

"Oh you sweet little angel. I'm so sorry, that was mean of me." His mom continued to comfort her for a few more minutes as she fully broke into sobs, rocking her back and forth in an attempt to soothe her. Cana slowly put herself back together, muttering an apology while rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"Nonsense," his mother responded. "Every little girl has a right to cry when she needs to," patting Cana on the head as she placed her back in her seat at the table.

"I'm sorry about your mom," Alex sincerely told her, squeezing her hand again. "What about your dad? I didn't ask yesterday because the guild started fighting." Cana's tears traded places for a face of dejection. Alex started backpedaling, he knew the answer but roles had to be played.

"Ah, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine," he said, waving his hands back and forth.

"No, no, it's okay. You've both been very nice so I don't mind," was her response as she took a deep breath and let it out.

"My dad is Gildarts, but he doesn't know he's my dad. I… I haven't told him yet…" she trailed off. Alex was surprised events were progressing so smoothly, but in the end, Cana was still only six. She was a child, in pain, and needed help. It's probably why she turned to drinking, nobody ever stopped and helped so she needed something else to numb the pain.

"If you don't mind, why not?" Alex queried, acting the part of the seven year old that he technically was.

"He's… he's so strong, and everyone at the guild looks up to him. I… I don't want him to…" she trailed off, looking despondent again. The unspoken words, she didn't want him to reject her.

"Oh," Alex blinked as if he was surprised. "Well that's easy, that geezer would love to meet you. He's super easy going, though…" He looked around shiftily, causing Cana to become slightly nervous. Was there something wrong with her dad? Alex dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "He's kind of a pervert." Cana looked at him in confusion for a brief moment and then started giggling. Alex smiled as the mood lightened.

"Fair warning, now let's eat before the food gets cold. Mom is going to ask you a bunch of questions, so be ready." True to form, his mom practically pounced on her, asking a myriad of things from what she thought of the guild, what her magic was, where she was living, who was taking care of her, was she eating well, all the questions a concerned mother would ask. Cana loved the attention. Alex was sure it reminded her of her own mother, as she would occasionally become sad for a moment but would quickly cheer back up.

She loved the guild so far, everyone was always very cheerful and helpful. She had just started using her trademark card magic, and could do some basic spells which she showed off to his mother's great enjoyment and enthusiasm. She was currently living at the guild hall, in the rooms that sat above the hall, while Master Makarov was making sure she was taken care of.

His mother was satisfied that Cana was having her needs met, but that dangerous fire came back to her eyes as she glanced between the two children in front of her.

"Cana, dear." His mother intoned sweetly towards the end breakfast. Cana looked up from where she was finishing off the last of her meal. "I know this is a bit sudden, but if, after you meet your father, you still need a place to stay, I would love to have you live with us." It had been brought up in conversation that Gildarts was often gone from the guild for long stretches due to the dangerous missions he took. He had just returned recently, and would leave again soon, Cana having coordinated her arrival in the guild with his appearance.

Alex, for his part, nearly did a spit take, saving his juice before it ended up across the table but suffered for it, coughing madly.

"Where," he croaked out, coughing again. "Where would she sleep?"

His mother blinked innocently.

"With you. Your room is big enough to fit another bed." He glanced over at Cana, her face lowered with a slight blush. He simply sighed. He had no say in this. His mother would do as she pleased. It was, after all, Cana's decision at the end of the day.

"No rush for a decision, dearie. I just wanted you to know that you're more than welcome here with us." Cana continued lightly blushing, nodding her acknowledgement with a brief, "Un."

"Well, then, now that that's settled, you two should get going. Alex will be there with you every step of the way, so don't feel scared. He's very reliable," Mariela gave her son a warm smile which he returned.

"Thanks, Mom. Come on, Cana, let's go catch Gildarts before he runs off again." He grabbed her hand as they left the table, tugging her gently forward. "Bye, Mom! I'll be back for dinner!"

"Have fun, don't get hurt!" Mariela waved after the two as they rushed downstairs.

The two rushed to the guild, ducking and weaving through the late morning pedestrian traffic. Alex would normally have already been at the guild and doing his training exercises for a few hours by now, but helping Cana was infinitely more important than sticking to his training schedule. Besides, taking a rest day every now and then was good for the body and mind.

The two raced each other all the way to the front of the guild before the situation managed to sink into Cana's mind and she slowed dramatically, coming to a stop in front of the doors where she nervously fidgeted for a moment. Alex waited patiently, taking her hand and squeezing it as he had been, reassuring her with his presence and a smile. Giving her a light tug, he led her through the doors.

Surveying the room, Alex spotted Makarov in his normal perch on the counter, but failed to spot Gildarts in the crowd. Pulling in a deep breath and tapping into his magic, Alex let out a shout.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU LAZY LAYABOUTS!" Everyone quickly quieted down, to Alex' nod of satisfaction.

"Thank you. Now, where's Gildarts?" The group started murmuring as everyone looked around. Makarov took a moment to speak up.

"He's upstairs looking over the board." The man in question took this moment to peek over the railing.

"Yo, squirt! It's been a while, what's up? I see you're already working on the ladies, nice work," Gildarts tossed him a thumbs up. "She's gonna be a cutie when she's older."

Alex rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Get down here, old man. This is important." Gildarts had a look of surprise pass over his face. It gave Alex a burst of inspiration as he glanced back down to the crowd paying attention to their conversation.

"Actually, Gramps, could we talk in your office? This is kinda private." That comment really got the group whispering, causing Cana to hide slightly behind Alex from the group's scrutinizing gaze. Makarov hummed, glancing back and forth between the two children before a look of realization passed over his eyes.

"Yes, m' boy. I'll take you up." He turned to address the remainder of the group. "The rest of you lazy sods go take a job!" The group snapped to attention before scurrying to the board to look as though they were busy.

"Come along, Alex, Cana. Gildarts will meet us inside."

Alex nodded, lightly pulling a nervous Cana behind him.

The four settled into the couches and chairs of Makarov's office. The two children sat together, Cana clinging to Alex' arm as her nerves got the better of her.

"So, Alex m' boy, what's this about?" Makarov asked as Gildarts sat quietly, an inquisitive look on his face.

"Cana has something important she needs to say." Alex cut straight to the chase, lightly poking her in her ribs to get her to loosen her grip on his arm. "You're going to squeeze it off if you keep holding me so tightly."

Gildarts snerked at the phrasing.

"You'll be asking her for that same thing in a few years, just with different body parts in mind," he snickered. Alex simply sighed and turned to Cana.

"I warned you he was a pervert." Cana simply looked shocked and blushed a deep red.

"Go on then, Cana. Tell the pervert who he just made a dirty joke about." It was Alex' turn to hold a malicious smile, masked by a terribly constructed innocent façade. Cana glared at her unknowing father, grasping onto Alex' arm even tighter.

"You shouldn't make dirty jokes like that in front of a lady, Dad."

Gildarts had a snarky response ready until the last part of her statement registered and his open mouth changed to a dropped jaw. Makarov watched the whole scenario play out with a bit of amused bemusement until deciding to break the silence.

"She definitely has your nose." Makarov snickered as the tension broke. That comment seemed to restart something within Gildarts and he let out a sudden scream!

"_So, what you're saying is, you're my...?!"_

Cana continued glaring in silence.

"WAIT! Which one is your mother?! Sarah, Naomi, Clara, Phena, Mary, Liza?! No, no! The hair color's all wrong! Emma? Lila? Jenny? Sydney? Kate? The Youko sisters?!"

It was at this moment Cana's glare warped to disgust, followed by disappointment. Makarov and Alex both held mutual expressions of contempt, almost as though they were looking at a particularly disgusting insect.

"Seriously?" Cana queried. "I travel all this way, finally find you and work up the courage, only to find out my old man is a deadbeat pervert. Whatever, I was just letting you know. See ya." She hopped to her feet, pulling Alex along behind her, an expression of surprise at the sudden outburst from what had been a shy girl up to this point.

"Whoa! Hold up!" Gildarts cried out from his position on the floor, reaching out to the pair.

"I don't have anything else to say to you." Cana harrumphed, still moving towards the door. "Don't worry, I won't be moving in. I don't want your pervert to infect me, and Alex and his mom offered to let me live with them."

Gildarts finally moved, appearing in front of the two in less than a blink. Cana hid behind Alex, peeking out as Gildarts kneeled down to their level.

"You're Cornelia's daughter. No doubt about it." Gildarts' eyes were soft as he stared at his daughter.

Alex took this opportunity to side step and pushed Cana forward where Gildarts quickly pulled her into a hug. Cana was unresponsive as Gildarts held her tightly.

"Please let go," was her only response. Gildarts ignored her.

"I'm so sorry, Cana. Your mother, was the only woman I ever truly loved. Marrying her was the happiest moment of my life. She left me six years ago because all I ever did was work. When I heard she passed so recently, it was like a shot to the heart." He stopped for a moment to take a breath.

"But looking at you, it's like a part of her is still with me." It was silent for a few heartbeats.

"It's okay… Dad. I forgive you." Gildarts promptly started tearing up.

"To think I had a daughter all this time. I'm so sorry, Cana. I promise, I'll never make you feel sad again. I'll always be here for you." Cana hugged him back.

"Liar, you're going to have to go on jobs sometime." Cana sniffled. "Besides, Alex already said he'd go on jobs together with me." At the mention of Alex' name, Gildarts suddenly became intense, a murderous glare peered over at him. Alex was intimidated but only gave him a deadpan response back.

"You aren't allowed to look at me like that just yet, geezer. Besides, I'm seven. You can worry about her dating life when we're teenagers." Gildarts snorted in response before Alex continued. "It's true though, my mom already offered to let her stay with us, so you don't have to worry about her when you're out on jobs." Alex took a breath before giving him a glare of his own, leaking some of his budding magical presence into the air. It wasn't enough to feel threatening to someone like Gildarts, but the impression from a seven year old was nevertheless impressive.

"However, I'm warning you. If you try to make a pass at, or bring my mom into your philandering ways, I'll slice your man parts off, Cana's father or no." He took this opportunity to lightly pluck a single strand of space, shearing off a lock of Gildarts' hair. His point made and received, evident by Gildarts widened eyes, Alex turned to Makarov.

"Gramps, I'm heading out. Gonna grab a D rank to let these two catch up." Turning back to Cana, he patted her on the head as he passed by. "Enjoy catching up with your old man, I'll see you later." Giving her a smile followed by a sinister glance to Gildarts, he continued. "Make sure to have him buy you a lot of toys to help make up for the past six years. There's plenty of space in my room to keep them."

With that last comment, he strolled out the office door. If he had glanced back he would have seen Cana's beaming smile, Gildarts thoughtful countenance, and Makarov's happy, yet concerned expression.

Gildarts turned to the master.

"Makarov…" he trailed off. The guild master simply sighed as Cana glanced back and forth between them in confusion.

"I still don't know what to make of that boy."

Gildarts nodded in response, many unspoken thoughts passing between them regardless.

"His magic, he's going to be unbelievably powerful once he reaches S class."

Makarov grunted in acknowledgement.

"We can discuss this later. Go. Spend some time with your daughter." A fond smile graced both their faces as they turned to Cana.

"Yes, later. Now then, my beautiful daughter, where would you like to go first?" Gildarts swooped down and hoisted her up onto his shoulders, walking out to the balcony of the second floor. Cana glanced around but it appeared Alex had already left for his mission. Clearing his throat, the guild quieted down in response to Gildarts presence.

"I'd like to reintroduce everyone to Cana Alberona-Clive. Please treat my daughter well." For a moment it was so silent a pin drop could have been heard. The next moment, the incredulous yells of the entire guild could be heard halfway across Magnolia.

* * *

The next morning, Gildarts and Makarov met in his office once more. Cana had officially moved in with the Crosius family, and the two were currently training outside. Cana had been very vocal about not letting Alex leave her behind, and insisted he wake her up and bring her with him starting that morning. They would inevitably have to spend some time apart, as Cana still needed to attend school, but Alex promised to help her whenever she needed it, and would never leave her, mollifying her protests.

Gildarts had funded all of her clothing and toys, as well as a new bed situated across from Alex' own. He had tried to offer more, but Mariela had declined. Thinking of Alex' mother, Gildarts couldn't help but daydream a bit, before the previous warning and the missing lock of hair had him refocus. He had come close to losing a finger or two just last night when Alex thought he was being a bit too familiar with his bombshell of a mother.

The S class wizard and his guild master looked down as the pair trained, stretching their magic abilities to their current limit.

"He's a little monster." Gildarts commented as he unconsciously ruffled the section of his impromptu haircut. Makarov grunted in agreement.

"I have yet to figure the child out. Some days he acts his age, others, he acts as if he's seen all the world had to offer, and was disappointed with what he found. It's disconcerting. The fact that he goes to such lengths, striving for power at his age. I don't understand what drives him, even with his background." Makarov took a moment and sighed.

"That's all before taking into consideration how he acts and interacts with the rest of the guild. He gets along well with Laxus. The two are most definitely friends, though with a bit of a competitive streak between them. He doesn't associate much with the others around his age, though he's never disagreeable with them either. I can unequivocally say he is a force for the betterment of Fairy Tail. He goes out of his way to solve problems for others, just as he did for you and Cana…" he trailed off.

"But without understanding his mind, you can't find it within yourself to trust him unconditionally. I understand, Master. It's an interesting situation, considering his age." Makarov snorted.

"That's the understatement of the decade. I took him on his first C rank two years ago, do you know what he asked me during one of the days we were out?"

Gildarts raised a questioning eyebrow.

"He asked me, about the specifics for the guild's policy on murder. Specifically whether it was for the crime, or a sweeping rule for killing in general?' I told him it was for the crime of murder, as that would make the wizard a dark mage." Makarov sighed again.

"It was with relief that he told me he was glad, as though a visible weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He said 'sometimes the choice between life and death is made for us' and that he would have hated to have killed in self-defense of what he holds precious, only to later be abandoned by those same people." Makarov gave Gildarts a heavy look. "What kind of child contemplates such things, even with his history?"

The two shared a look of concern before both sighed. Makarov spoke once more.

"It is the failing of a child's parents, should a child be forced to consider such matters; to have committed, or feel the resolve for such actions, regardless of age." Both knew he spoke not of Alex' mother, but of his own failings, that of the wizard council, and the kingdom in their duty to the citizens.

**A/N:**

Full disclosure: I definitely took that dialogue between Cana and Gildarts from the actual anime. It was both hilarious and heartwarming in equal measure and fit really well for their dynamic. I promise I don't usually make a habit of doing that, so it's very unlikely you'll see me pull something like that directly again, but I really liked that scene.

The next few chapters are predominantly going to be centering around cast arrival and relationship interactions as people meet and interact. Expect things to really heat up (no pun intended) when we get some more main characters hanging out in the guild.

Unique comes out next, this chapter got pushed up since I already had it done. I'm about a quarter of the way through the next Unique so expect it in a day or two, followed by DH, then a return to the normal publishing cycle.

Please consider leaving a review. I read them all, so they will be seen. Especially if something doesn't make sense or flow right, let me know so I can go over it and correct it if it's egregious.

Thanks -Imbalance


	8. Chapter 7: The Next Step

**Chapter Seven: The Next Step**

Alex' birthday was held a few days later, his mother hosting a small family party for him and his few friends at the café. The small afternoon party was followed by a promotion ceremony, which was Master Makarov's fancy way of saying they were going to throw a rager because someone was ranking up. The paperwork and everything required to make it official had been sent off to Era earlier that week, so all that was left was for the master to recognize the increase in status. Everyone old enough drank until they dropped, and those that weren't still enjoyed themselves watching the adults look like fools while playing games of their own.

The next few weeks following his promotion were slow for Alex as he helped Cana adjust to Magnolia and Fairy Tail. Living together was slightly awkward at first, but the pair quickly got over it, Cana treating him as something similar to an older brother figure after a few days. The pair regularly ran D ranks over the course of the weeks, Alex acting as a chaperone and mentor. He showed her how to interact with clients, and helped her learn to both problem solve and critically think to find solutions to the requests presented to them.

For Cana's part, she was like a fish to water, and soaked up all of his lessons as quickly as he could give them out. It was only two weeks later that she was regularly running D rank missions on her own each day after being dismissed from school in the afternoons. Her card magic was something her mother had initially started teaching her, and was a path she was adamant about continuing, not that Alex attempted to dissuade her. Card magic could be immensely powerful and versatile if used creatively. Getting her started on thinking outside the box magically in order to solve problems at an early age was a big part of his plan to help her continue to grow in the future.

With Cana's rising confidence came independence, and around the time she began taking D rank missions on her own she began branching out and making friends with the other guild children. She particularly enjoyed Evergreen's company, looking up to the girl as an older sister, though Cana also became fast friends with a now five year old Levy and six year old Bisca, the three regularly taking missions together.

Gildarts had stuck around longer than he had initially intended, but eventually, after ensuring his precious daughter was happy, safe, and being treated well, took a mission that would have him traveling for several months. Cana had refused to cry to his face, simply smiling and telling him to be safe, though that changed the moment he was out of sight. Alex had spent the remainder of that day consoling a sad and worried young girl.

Cana eventually fully synchronized into the guild's inner workings, with only the occasional hiccup, and with the addition of friends to help support her, Alex was finally able to start taking C rank missions on his own. C rank requests were only a single step up from D rank for a reason, so his trips were almost universally short local missions into the nearby towns or countryside. While it was true that they held an elevated level of danger, they were still suitable to be handled by a responsible younger kid as they were predominantly short escort or pest extermination missions similar to his first mission two years prior.

B rank missions was where the true danger began appearing. Bandit pacification, more powerful monsters, occasionally subduing a dark mage, the B rank was where most wizards stayed during their time adventuring, the risk versus reward balancing just enough to be appealing to the common wizard. While A rank, S rank, and above often gave substantial rewards for completion, the risk often far outweighed the gain in the minds of most, a common philosophy repeated throughout guild halls being 'You have to be alive to spend your money'.

It had been a few months since then, and Alex was out in the countryside hunting down a particularly vicious sabretooth, Cana having decided to skip out on 'hurting a cute, fluffy animal'. Out on his own, Alex was left with some downtime during his travels, the quiet hum of nature lulling him into contemplation.

The next major canon event left a sour taste in Alex' mouth every time it crossed his mind. Gray's family and Ur would both be lost to Deliora before the Ice Make wizard joined Fairy Tail. That same feeling of powerlessness that had been driving him to this point came back with a vengeance, though he forced himself to temper his zealous training inclinations.

Looking back on the time just after his father's death, his behavior was incredibly toxic to both himself and his mom. She had been incredibly worried for him, on top of grieving in her own way. He'd recently struck a much healthier work-life balance that had him spending more time with his friends and family, which was reflected in his mother's demeanor. She had been much happier and smiled much more frequently even when he wasn't around if what their loyal day to day customers told him was true.

Hanging out with Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe was both good and bad for him. Laxus was a great friend, taking responsibility for those he thought of as family, but he always brought out Alex' competitive side, which stoked his desire to train in turn. He balanced that by hanging out with Nab, Levy, and Wan Chanzi, all of which maintained a laidback state of existence. Levy had already become the bookworm she was portrayed as from canon, but that worked just fine for Alex. He enjoyed spending time with the three of them in the quiet corner of the hall, Alex and Levy typically with books in their hands. Jet and Droy had yet to fall head over heels for her, so she was mostly left alone to her silence.

Alex shook himself from his thoughts as he approached what he believed to be the edge of the sabretooth's reported territory. He had been out in the wilderness searching for the mission target for several hours now and had already had to accidentally clear out a couple additional caves of wildlife unappreciative of his intrusion. He had tried to simply leave the animals in peace, but the wolves in particular had been exceedingly vindictive and vicious.

Glancing around, Alex surveyed the trees as he continued his approach. It was unlikely the big cat would be so far out from its home, but it paid to always be vigilant. Alex pushed his way through the underbrush, wishing he had brought along a machete but being wholly unwilling to frivolously waste his mana on carving out a path. It didn't help that his small stature had an even more difficult time than an adult would have, the plant life that would normally only reach a person's knees snagging at his waist and chest.

It was another full hour of brambles, scratches, muttered cursing, and a complete lack of stealth before signs of the beast's presence became a more regular occurrence in the surrounding area. Old paw tracks here, shredded tree bark there, the bones, _look at the bones!_ Alex vocally sighed. This world would never know the glory that was Monty Python.

Focus! He was getting tired and needed to _focus._

Bones meant its lair was likely nearby if it was dragging its meals to this location. If he hadn't attracted its attention stumbling and fumbling his way through the forest up to this point it was likely he had by now, either from scent or simple proximity. Alex stood still, listening intently to his surroundings as he let his internal ethernano pick up speed in its flow through his body. Slowly he allowed it to leak out into his surroundings, marking out a defined sphere of influence for his domain.

He had made notable strides in the two years since his first mission with Makarov. Not as far as he could have pushed himself, but still considerable while making friends and keeping his mother happy. His 'domain' as he had taken to calling it, was originally a loose, cost inefficient way to manipulate many things at once in an area. At first, he had started using it when helping in the café, but at the time it had several flaws.

Most notably was the fact the technique hemorrhaged mana like a bath faucet. Initially, it was fine using it for twenty or thirty minutes if he was only doing simple magical feats such as stirring or serving plates of food, but when addressing practical applications, it was grossly profligate with his mana. Over time, and with a lot of practice helping his mother with her work, he had slowly turned it into an actual technique.

The mana it was leaking into the environment slowly stopped as he honed the skill of keeping his loose mana in a defined area. It was very Will intensive, requiring he channel the mental image of the effect constantly. It also could only extend so far from his body at a time, as the farther the mana expanded, the more difficult it was to maintain both his claim and control of it. Both aspects could be improved upon with additional practice, but he had reached what he believed to be an acceptable level for his current age and abilities.

In Alex' mind, the benefits far outweighed the effort and time he had put into developing it. He had near absolute control over his area, though it could easily be disrupted by a more powerful mage, however wizards at his level or lower were nearly powerless once they entered the field given he had the opportunity to put their surrounding space into stasis. It was a powerful defensive ability, with equal offensive capabilities, and it was the one skill he had begun to rely on most when on hunting or extermination missions, the typically frenzied predators falling prey to their own instincts.

Alex kept alert, occasionally sending out very thin bursts of mana from his sphere which acted similar to short range echolocation, but with the fabric of reality. The weave of solid objects responded differently than the free-flowing fabric holding gas, which in turn bounced back different sensations than a shifting body, a beating heart pushing the flow of blood, the elevated traces of ethernano present in all living things.

It was stalking through the trees, keeping a parallel path to him as he moved through the forest. It was a much more cautious predator than the previous examples he had taken missions for. The merchants that had suffered from attacks on nearby routes said it had acted as if it was in a frenzy, but a frenzied beast was not a cautious one, and this was the only sabretooth in this area according to reports.

A warning growl sounded out as the predator brushed against the outskirts of his domain. The sabretooth gave him a hearty glare from the surrounding shrubbery. She was a massive specimen of her kind, the size of a small bear and all lean muscle. It quickly became apparent why she had been so territorial against the large invading caravans. Momma kitty's underbelly teats were swollen and full, and he was likely approaching uncomfortably close to her lair and kittens if she had finally revealed herself.

As the pair watched each other in a standoff, Alex noted she refused to actually step foot within his established mana field, only teasing the edge. It was incredibly rare, but there were notable instances of wild animals developing increased intelligence and sensitivity to ethernano over time and judging by the actions she had taken so far, Alex felt confident he was dealing with one in this case. With a bit more information giving the picture a more cohesive frame, Alex did something he was completely unsure would work, though he rationalized it as a potential easy solution worth attempting.

"Hello, Momma Sabre." Alex felt her attention fully focus on him at this point, a more threatening growl leaving her throat. "Easy big momma. We don't have to fight." Ears and tail flicked while her eyes never left him. "I was hired to take care of a blood frenzied beast, not a mom protecting her babies. We don't have to fight," he repeated. "But we do need to move you a bit further from the roads. I understand the big groups of humans near your home are scary, but if you keep attacking them someone else a bit less understanding is going to come to kill you." More ear and tail flicks as the stare off continued. "There's a nice big cave a short trip from here that I understand has just become available.

Finally, she gave out a grunt and disappeared into the bushes once more. In the few minutes he stood waiting, he made mental notes to thank Levy and get her something nice. In one of the many books Levy had read and discussed with him, ethernano attuned animals were featured heavily. Levy and the girls liked it since it dealt with information about cute animals, but the actual academic value behind the research was serving him well now. One of the prominent theories that had been discussed was how increased ethernano levels helped translate intent for the more primitive animal minds, which he had been hoping to leverage with this interaction.

Several long minutes passed where Alex grew increasingly nervous as time went on. He really didn't want to have to hunt down the mom as that would mean he would effectively be condemning her kittens to death as well. He was just as much a sucker for cute things as the girls, but he definitely would never admit it to their faces.

Finally, bushes began rustling and Alex shifted into a reactionary stance, just in case. He was pleasantly surprised when a small baby sabre came tumbling out into his small clearing. It was unbelievably adorable as it rolled back to its feet with its only slightly elongated fangs barely visible. Momma came skulking through seconds after, two more kittens held gently in her mouth and a fourth perched atop her back.

"Uhh… would you like me to carry one of them?" A glare and low growl gave a clear answer. Hands raised in surrender Alex backed off. "Got it, no touching. It'll be a couple hours walk this way." Alex put words to action leading them back the way he had come. He'd be pushing it to make it back to civilization before nightfall but taking care of situations like this was his responsibility, not only because he had been hired to do so, but because he had chosen to go beyond the scope of the request.

Loving cute things could be hard sometimes.

**A/N:**

Shoutout to star445 for catching me being extra lazy. I really had no excuse for that, so thank you, I corrected the conversation flow to hopefully be more realistic.

BatteryThief – Thanks for the honest critique. I definitely struggle with pacing as a whole, though it is significantly more difficult in periods where there is little happening but mundane growth or things like travelling. If you have any specific sections from the past or future chapters where you're notably thrown off, please don't hesitate to point it out so I can figure out ways to smooth the transitions.

Thomas Drovin – Thank you for taking the time to give your thoughts on the story. I appreciate the effort you've put in to hit the main points of each chapter. A couple notes for your comments so far – I promise I'm trying to keep Alex from turning into a gary-stu. I feel like I'm putting enough details in that show he isn't perfect, and that he has his own struggles and issues, but if I'm not, I can definitely be more explicit if he's still coming off as a paragon of perfection. My counter point beyond that, for now, would be: yes he's well liked, but he's also viewed as a responsible, dedicated kid. It's hard not to like a kid like that.

Unrelated to the story, I'm glad you pointed out the disclaimer stuff that most people place at the top of their chapters. I don't know why the community does that since it's not actually required by FFN to do so. It's not mentioned at all under the publishing rules and guidelines, and by law I'm perfectly within fair use copyright exceptions. You weren't fussy at all but thank you for giving me the opportunity to point that out lol. I hope you continue enjoying my story, I'll be looking forward to reading your input in future chapters!


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"I knew you were a big softy but giving up the reward to help the big kitties find a new home is a whole new level!" Levy was smiling while Cana giggled along with her accusation. All the women of the guild were peeking over the young girls' shoulders to look at the pictures he'd taken of the sabretooth family spread across the surface of the table. He looked around at the girls smiling, then simply shrugged.

"It's just what wizards are supposed to do. Part of the calling is protecting the weak and innocent, right?"

One of the older women laughed a bit.

"I don't think that included giant carnivorous cats, kid."

Alex shrugged again.

"Maybe, but to me, they were weak, and the mom never actually killed anyone, just harassed the caravans, so she was innocent. Seemed to fit the bill."

The same woman laughed again.

"Alright kid, I see your point, but the rest of you," she turned and addressed the crowd, "shouldn't expect missions like this to happen very often. An ethernano attuned creature is incredibly rare, so prioritize your own safety, always."

A smattering of murmurs of confirmation spread throughout the hall, men and women alike. One of the women of the group, with his consent, picked up the pictures and began tacking them up in an open space on the wall behind the bar, the group slowly dispersing now that the initial excitement passed. Alex made his way from the table as well and leaned up against the bar next to Makarov.

"Gramps, I'll be taking a couple days off like normal."

Makarov grunted in acknowledgement, giving a casual wave without looking up from his magazine.

"Alright, brat. Tell your mother I said hello."

"Of course, Gramps."

"Cana, I'm heading home. I'll see you later."

Cana looked away from her group's conversation to give him a sweet smile in response.

"See you in a whlie, Alex."

With that he made his way towards the hall doors only to have them thrown open as Laxus and his entourage came strutting back in. Spotting Alex, the entire group stopped, stared for a moment, then surrounded him. Alex looked around at the four suspiciously, stopping on Laxus who stood smirking in front of him.

"Can I help you, Laxus?" The older boy's smirk grew.

"As a matter of fact…" The three others dogpiled him, lifting him above their heads by his arms and legs so he couldn't escape.

"…you can!"

The four hustled back out of the doors with Alex supported above them, squawking in protest as the entire hall looked on in amusement. The four hustled back down into the city, the citizens laughing at the kids' antics and Alex' pitiful face as he passed them by. The group stopped in front of the café, Laxus peeking within to check in with his traitorous mother who gave them full permission to abduct him for their no doubt nefarious schemes.

"Evergreen, Freed, Bickslow, put me down, damnit!"

"_Alexander Crosius, you watch your mouth!"_ came the shout from within the store as Laxus returned with a shit eating grin spread across his face.

"Come along, Prisoner. We have need of your services. Don't struggle or I'll have Bickslow make you behave." Alex groaned and went limp. He'd made the mistake of meeting Bickslow's eyes before during a spar. He _hated_ the feeling of taking a backseat in his own body and was still actively looking for magic he could learn to construct mental protections against similar types of magic.

The group could be seen soon after boarding a train heading West, Alex still restrained above them. Only once they had finally gotten underway was he released from their grasp and allowed to sit. A disgruntled expression sat on his face at the smug looks being sent his direction.

"So, what was so important that you had to abduct me?"

Laxus leaned back into his seat casually.

"We have a B rank mission that we needed an extra hand with. Gramps and your mom already approved it." A frown sat unmoving on Alex' face.

"That tells me nothing, Laxus."

The group sat silently in a stare off for a few minutes until Evergreen finally broke first.

"We needed a younger kid to help babysit Princess Hisui. We're to be undercover guards pretending to be playmates. There's a delegation coming from Bosco and the king wants extra protection for the few days they'll be in the capital."

Alex carefully maintained a neutral, expressionless face as a couple beats passed in silence. Suddenly he stood, surprising the group, and began reaching for the window. Laxus reacted first with a shout of "Stop him!", prompting the other three to immediately jump on him once again before he managed to get the window halfway open.

"Get off of me, you stupid assholes!" He kept shoving and grasping for the window frame. "I want nothing to do with royalty! With my luck, I'm going to have to fight off six assassins at once while you're all off dicking around somewhere else!"

It was eight.

"Then, assuming I don't _die,_ the royal family will feel indebted to me, and I'll end up forced into some weird arrangement!"

He was.

"I'm not even B rank! This is reckless endangerment!"

It was. Technically.

Evergreen laughed.

"You have a crazy imagination, it'll be fine."

Laxus cut in before he could get started on his rant again.

"Regardless, you don't have a choice in the matter anymore. Gramps already signed you up along with us. If you flaked now, you'd lose a lot of reputation for the guild."

Alex' response was immediate.

"What did you bribe him with!?" Laxus looked shiftily away to the side. "That old geezer! It was alcohol, wasn't it?! I've been sold as a royal play toy for a barrel of terribly brewed alcohol!" Laxus muttered under his breath something that Alex didn't quite catch, though his eyes sharpened into daggers, slicing into him.

"What did you just say?! Say it louder!" Laxus refused to make eye contact, muttering only slightly louder.

"It was a single bottle of aged scotch from the king's personal stock. It's one of the quest rewards."

Life seemed to flee from Alex' body, his eyes dulling as he stared into the ceiling of their train car.

"I've been sold into slavery for a single bottle of spirits." The four exchanged glances, slowly getting off him as he lay dejected and unresponsive on the ground. Moments later life seemed to flood back into his eyes as his magic erupted, righteous fire raging across his face.

"I'm going to _destroy_ every drop of alcohol in the hall." The Thunder God Tribe exchanged worried glances, but wisely remained silent as Alex began cackling to himself, still laying on the floor.

That was how they remained for the duration of the trip, Alex muttering promises of destruction accompanied by the occasional dark chuckles the entire way to the capital, though he did get off the floor.

Having recovered enough from his mental break, Alex followed along behind the group as they approached the castle gates. He couldn't very well walk around cackling like a madman with the Fairy Tail emblem painted across his inner forearm. Or maybe he could? The reports of an insane Fairy Tail child would cause all sorts of rumors and problems, which would definitely irritate that old geezer of a guild master.

Unfortunately, the rest of the members didn't deserve a negative stigma attached to them, so he was restraining himself from acting out.

"Yo, guard man! We're here for our regularly scheduled play date with the princess." Laxus took the lead, dropping the code line that had been prepared with the mission request beforehand.

"Ah, good to see you again, kid. Earl will take you up to the castle like usual. And stop calling me guard man! I told you the last six times you brats showed up! My name's Gerard!"

Laxus waved as the group followed Earl up the path beneath the portcullis.

"Sure thing, Geezer. We'll remember."

Gerard shook his head in mock frustration as the four kids strolled out of sight.

"Wait… wasn't there supposed to be five of them?" The guardsman blinked a couple times before shrugging. "They're just kids, they'll figure it out."

Meanwhile, Alex was bouncing on his bottom, sitting cross legged on a spatial plane above as his group crossed the entrance gardens. Watching them enter, he flung himself up and into a window a couple floors up, then proceeded to wander down the corridor until a chambermaid finally spotted him.

Internal awareness and defenses were severely lacking. The perimeter wall held some formidable detection and defensive enchantments as the stone had been practically buzzing with ethernano, but once inside there was zero response to his invasion. It was pure coincidence after several minutes of wandering that a civilian maid finally spotted him.

"What are you doing wandering around the castle, child?" The woman was suspicious of him, but his age was working in his favor as far as lenient responses were concerned. He adopted a shy, nervous demeanor.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm… I'm supposed to be playing with the princess today, but…" he looked around 'embarrassed'.

"But what, dearie," the woman's response was decidedly warmer, the staff having been notified beforehand to expect the children.

"Well… I'm lost. The nice lady from before was showing me the way, but she said she forgot something, then ran off after giving me directions." The older woman tisked in response, muttering under her breath.

"I bet it was that airheaded Shelly girl again." Alex internally winced, sending a mental apology to whoever this Shelly was. "Come along, dearie. I'll show you the way, you were close. Her highness' playroom is just around the corner."

"Thank you, miss!" Alex rolled his eyes now that the woman's back was turned.

"Of course, my dear. It's my duty." She stopped in front of a pair of big double doors a moment later. "This is her playroom. Remember to be courteous and play nice, okay?"

Alex nodded with a "Yes ma'am!" and was promptly let in.

His first sight was of several piles of books in the middle of the floor, all stacked to varying heights. The four-year-old princess could be seen only by a pair of sock covered feet sticking out between stacks, swishing back and forth as she lay on her stomach. Padding silently over on the soft carpet, Alex peaked over her shoulder to find her reading a book on the various types of common magic.

"You and Levy would probably get along great." He suddenly commented. Hisui startled and with a cry went jerking and jumping in surprise into the nearby piles of texts. Alex' mana burst out, flooding the room in an instant and establishing his domain. Leveraging his powers, he caught the stacks as they began to tumble in sequence, keeping the stray books floating in the air while holding the still destabilized stacks in place. Gently, he floated a wide eyed Hisui out from beneath the mass of now twirling books as they reassembled themselves in their appropriate locations.

He placed her softly on the ground with her book exactly as he had found her.

"That was _amazing!_" She immediately jumped into his face, clutching his hands with eyes full of wonder.

"Can you do it again? What was that? Is that your magic? What type of magic is it? Can you teach me? Who are you? Are you my new friend? Are we friends? Will you be my friend?!" She finally stopped to take a breath and a now equally wide-eyed Alex placed a finger over her lips before she could get started again.

"In order, yes, I can do it again, as much as you like. It was magic. It was my magic. It's Spatial Magic. I don't think I can teach it, since I'm pretty sure it's a Lost Magic, but you can learn Air Magic which will let you do something similar. I'm Alex Crosius, and I'm supposed to be your playmate for a few days. If you want to be friends, yes, I will be your friend, which will make me your new friend, which will make us, in fact, friends." He was running out of air at the end, but he managed to squeeze it all into a single breath. It was worth it to see Hisui's eyes glaze over response as everything processed. Reverting to some sort of programmed court etiquette response, she stepped back and curtsied.

"Nice to meet you, Alex Crosius. I'm Princess Hisui E. Fiore, it's a pleasure to meet you." She immediately reverted to her childlike exuberance, clutching his shirt in excitement. "Please do it again!" Alex smirked and began having the small library worth of books spin and twirl around them. Hisui giggled and clapped at the whirlwind of fluttering leather and paper swirled until the door suddenly opened and Alex had them return to their stacks. The pair turned to see the king himself enter with four children trailing behind him.

"Daddy! You got me the best friend ever!" Hisui glomped onto the tiny king in a big hug before darting back and doing the same to Alex' arm. Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe just looked on with open mouths of surprise. He gave them a casual wave.

"Hey guys."

"Alex! Where were you!? We were so worried!" Evergreen glared at him from the doorway. He shrugged.

"I was making some observations on the castle's internal defenses when I found the princess in here. We were just introduced." The diminutive king looked back and forth between the ongoing conversation with concerned amusement.

"It's nice to formally meet you, your majesty. I'm Alex Crosius, Space Mage of Fairy Tail, and the fifth member of our group." The king hummed.

"Interesting. Indeed, well met child. I see you and Hisui are getting along fabulously already." His tone began teasingly but transitioned to business. "Now what's this about my castle's defenses?"

"Ah, well sir, the short version is you should probably invest in at least detection enchantments in key locations around the castle. The castle wall was practically impenetrable, but once inside there's not much to stop someone from doing whatever they want. I wandered the halls for several minutes before a maid happened to spot me." Alex shrugged. "Just a thought for consideration, your majesty." King Toma hummed and swayed back and forth a bit.

"Excellent! Good work, child! I have business to attend to, so please introduce yourselves!" With that the sprite-like king vanished from the room. Alex looked at the blank faces of his friends, then Hisui who was humming expectantly still attached to his arm. He coughed awkwardly.

"Uh, right. Princess Hisui, this is Laxus, Evergreen, Freed, and Bickslow. They're also Fairy Tail wizards here to play for the next few days." Hisui gasped in glee and opened her mouth just before Alex managed to cut her off.

"I'm sure, as new friends, they'll be glad to tell you all about their magic." Her face nearly split in half with the size of her smile, the four other children still looking on in blank confusion.

**A/N:**

**Thomas Drovin **– There's a lot, especially with how expansive the FT universe is, that I can't find a way to throw off simply because I don't have enough information to logically explain how it would be possible. So a lot of canon in this story might actually come to pass simply from a lack of knowledge on canon event impetus. For example, the Lullaby arc, nobody knew anything about Eisenwald until Erza came back with whispered rumors. How do you head off something that so suddenly appears like that? So while there are _some _events that can be derailed, canon in FT is much more difficult to mess with than in other fandoms.

**NazgulBelserion** – No pets just yet lol I'm still toying with the idea of finding him a magic familiar. Something like Happy but definitely not as sentient. One speaking mascot is enough, I think. He's definitely trying to balance work and play better now that he's somewhat recovered from his father's death.

**Slaggedfire** – We're most likely looking at somewhere around 10-12 more chapters until he's 16 and considered an 'adult' in Ishgar. Probably 13-15 chapters before canon would have theoretically started. That may change as it's a very rough estimation and could be shorter or longer depending on how the story flows onto the page. There's _a lot_ of events that happen in these early years that are important for character development for the entire cast that was never covered by canon, so I'm essentially creating backstories and adding depth to characters that didn't exist in the original story, while fitting Alex into the group dynamic.

For those waiting for the romance aspect of the story to come into play, it'll be around the time he hits adulthood. As much as I can enjoy a story where the alpha male MC gets all the women effortlessly, it has a tendency to throw me off since there's often not enough emotional foundation for those feelings to emerge beyond 'he's hot, powerful, and treats me nice', which means nothing when truly successful relationships are reliant on communication and understanding.

Because of that, my own stories currently (attempt to) take the slowburn approach, building the connections and emotions to support an attraction. Romance will happen, I just want it to be somewhat based in reality since so often stories slip into wishful thinking that make relationships seem like they're just casually easy. Think of it as my desire to go against the grain. I'm trying to set a new trend of grounded expectations in writing. _Join me, we have cookies._

**TTGLlol **– Interactions will definitely pick up as more of the main cast arrives, but I hope this chapter helped with that in the meantime. You're definitely right, I've been keeping Alex busy without building much in the way of solid relationship foundations, and so I'll try and transition a bit more character interaction into future chapters. Thank you!

**Arclight001 **– He's still working on the social and training aspects and trying to strike a good balance between them. He definitely feels the pressure of the future which is one reason why he trains so hard, but also has the conflicting social pressures to keep his family and friends happy. *whistles innocently*

**TehStorm** – I actually haven't taken any inspiration from other shows so far. I've based all of his powers on actual spatial theory. Fabric of space, string theory, etcetera. I might eventually dip into other sources for inspiration, but I'm trying to be as original about it as I can while sticking to what Alex would think to use or create.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

The group spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening entertaining the young princess. She was four years old and full of limitless energy, especially when it came to her fascination with magic. She ooh'd and ahh'd over Laxus' lightning, was impressed by Evergreen's eyes, laughed in delight when Bickslow sent his puppets dancing around the room, and was fascinated by Freed's Letter magic. She enjoyed all of their displays but by far found Alex' spatial magic to be the most mystical and entertaining, especially after he had sent her flying throughout the room like a miniature Wendy while he played Peter Pan.

The Bosco delegation arrived the next day, their group very well accommodated in the guest wing of the palace as the meetings would be held over the next two days. Two days of playing and learning alongside the princess while ensuring her safety. No problem. No big deal. Forty-eight hours and it would all be over. The ten mages working as escort and protection were just guards. No worries. It was a dangerous world, so having guards made sense. He wasn't paranoid at all about having two squads of B rank foreign mages living in the home of the ruler of their country while he was on the hook for the royal scion's safety.

At least they were only B rank in power. Anything more would have been seen as a threat by the delegation, though their numbers were already skirting the borderline of propriety. Nevertheless, Alex was thanking small mercies. The children watched from the sidelines during the initial announcement of the delegation's arrival before being sent off with Hisui to play again once her obligations as heiress had been fulfilled. They had been explained off as part of an orphan program the kingdom was supporting which served a double function of helping Hisui socialize in a casual context with her peers, the king selling the deception behind an actual program the kingdom maintained over the years.

They spent equal amounts of time between playing and reading, the young girl adamant about learning as much as she could about magic. She was already fairly impressively knowledgeable for her age, and Alex could see how the little girl could grow up into the woman that orchestrates the opening of the Eclipse Gate many years from then.

That first day and night were quiet. The group of children had convinced the young princess to have a sleepover style setup in her playroom with the child mages agreeing separately to take shifts staying awake in a corner of the room, the location masked by shadows cast by the truly epic blanket and pillow fort the group had constructed.

The next day was more of the same, meetings upon meetings of talks between the adults while the children ran about seemingly carefree. All of them truly were enjoying their time with the girl, despite the age difference. She was always bright and cheerful which infected the others with her boundless optimism. It kept them buoyed and distracted from their tension and anxiety the closer the night approached. If a move was made, it would have to be this night, as the representative and his entourage would be leaving the following morning.

They took watch in pairs, Freed and Evergreen taking first watch. Freed would use his Letter magic and Dark Ecriture with Evergreen's support to lay down some defensive enchantments to turn their pillow fort into an actual fort. Only children were allowed in, the pillows were sturdier, the blankets more elastic. Certain sections of the fort were rigged poorly to collapse if disturbed all in an effort to delay any invaders where they could. Alex had very carefully sliced out a section of the wall in their sleeping area just big enough for a small child to fit through if needed. With all their preparations in place, the group settled in for what they hoped was a peaceful night.

That hope went to hell when they were awoken during the second shift, Laxus and Bickslow quietly shaking everyone awake after having heard heavy thumps from outside the door. Hisui was confused, but quickly transitioned to a terrified understanding, clinging to Alex once she grasped the severity of the situation. It was moments later that Freed grunted.

"They ran into the area restriction and tossed some sort of spell at it." Freed grit his teeth as his fingers flexed against an invisible object. "There's at least three of them, maybe four. I won't be able to hold my barrier against them for long." Laxus signaled Alex.

"Go, hit the escape route and hide as long as you can. We can distract these guys." Alex nodded staring into Laxus' eyes, his own deadly serious before he turned away.

"If it's you or them, don't hesitate." He saw doubt in the older boy for a moment before something hardened in his spine. They shared a nod and Alex turned away.

As they were now, individually the Thunder God Tribe wasn't exactly impressive, but when they fought together, they were a forced to be reckoned with. Laxus was likely enough to hold against two regular B rank mages on his own, so Alex was confident he would be seeing them again come the morning. He flexed his magic, using it to push out the heavy stone block into the next room as Freed gave a gasp and his first defense shattered. Alex went through first, checking the room for enemies before pulling Hisui through and placing the block back into the wall.

He directed the princess over to the window and had her start raising it as he sent slicing threads both up into the ceiling and down through the floor in front of the room's single door. With a pull of his magic, the ceiling would now come crashing down on top of anyone unfortunate enough to come inside, sending them pinned to the floor below them. The sounds of combat could now be heard through the wall, explosions and Laxus' laughter the loudest.

"_Thunder Dragon's ROAR!" _resounded out just before an explosion of electricity came flooding out of a now shattered window.

"_She's not in here! It's only some of the kids! We'll handle the brats, go!"_

Time was ticking, the pair stationed themselves by the open window. The guards in this area were likely dead. They would need to flee to either the barracks or into the city. The barracks were on the other side of the castle, and likely being watched or impeded by a member of the assaulting mages. There were other mages on staff at the castle, but Alex was in no place to rely on the capabilities of other unknowns, if they were even trustworthy in the first place.

It was only several seconds after Laxus began his rampage that the door was flung open, two masked men shooting into the room. One of them got out a shout, _"Here!"_ but that was all that they managed. Alex tugged, and the roof slammed down on top of both men sending them either pinned or dead into the floor below. Two more men stood in the doorway with visibly widened eyes glancing at the carved pit before them and then up to the cold visage of Alex' face. He didn't give them time to react, shooting off a wave of spatial strings that they dove behind the walls to avoid.

Alex scooped up a whimpering and crying Hisui into his arms and launched himself out of the window. Bouncing himself up into the sky, he continued flinging the pair of them both higher and farther into the city.

"Hisui, I need you to hold onto my back, okay? I've got you; I won't let you fall." The pair shifted, Hisui doing as he instructed quietly just as a slicing blade of wind came hurtling upwards towards them. A wind mage was in hot pursuit, using bursts of air to shoot himself closer to their altitude. Alex tsked in irritation.

"Annoying." Taking off, he shot them deeper into the city, dropping altitude as he fired off bundles of strings to keep the air mage occupied. With one final burst, he sent them plummeting out of the sky, the air mage forced to divert his course to avoid the sudden shredder of spatial tears Alex opened behind him. The princess clung to his neck tightly the entire time, Alex lightly supporting her with a layer of energy.

Landing in a shadowed alley, Alex glanced up to find the mage scanning the area. He burnt through more mana than he would have liked with that last maneuver. He took a moment to catch his breath, his panting gasps only slightly audible over the nighttime hustle and bustle. He _fucking told them_ this would happen! Keeping Hisui on his back, Alex took off at a jog deeper into the maze-like alleyways of the city, taking an indirect route back to the castle.

He was given a brief fifteen minutes of reprieve, at least magically. Physically he was winded from dashing and running through the streets. He had just entered a slightly more open are where he suddenly found himself surrounded by five masked wizards. He cursed under his breath. The air mage must have spotted him and directed the others. Glancing up confirmed that the annoying bastard was still hovering above as interceptor. He shouldn't have given up the high ground, but he definitely wouldn't have been able to outlast a true B rank wizard in the air while supporting the princess. At least he hadn't spotted the two he had originally crushed. They were likely dead.

Eyes narrowed; Alex prepared himself. His next move would be costly, but it was the only way he would be able to break out and have a chance to make it back to the castle.

"Give it up, kid. Give us the girl, and we'll let you walk away from this."

Alex didn't respond, simply muttering in a low tone under his breath.

"Spatial Storm." His ethernano exploded, jagged lines of space cutting through the area within a blink of an eye, gaping maws of void sucked in air as Alex flung himself through a gap created by the assassins dodging away. The spatial fabric would repair itself soon enough, but he only needed the split-second opening to escape.

Hitting a wall, Alex flung himself back into the air, the element of surprise running out as the air mage came back to the moment and set off after him once again. Sweat was running down his face as he cut back to the castle, his mana running on empty as he tumbled through the air to dodge another attack, just barely making it back over the walls.

He hugged Hisui to his chest, keeping her from harm as they rolled across the dirt. Standing, he placed her behind his back as he panted, taking deep heaving breaths as the wind mage hovered cautiously. Alex was tapped out, but he raised his hand as though he was about to form another attack, making the man hesitate further with his bluff. It worked long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

"_Lightning Dragon's BRILLIANT STORM!"_

Electricity came crashing down in massive waves, the air mage not given even a chance to scream as he was turned to ash. Alex crumpled to his knees as the four other Fairy Tail wizards surrounded them defensively. Laxus was panting heavily from his last attack, but they otherwise appeared unharmed.

"Good job, Alex. We've got you. The king had a couple traitors in his ranks, but we got it sorted out. They'll be here in moments." Alex didn't even deign to give a response, simply slumping into exhausted unconsciousness. Hisui continued to cling to him, refusing to leave his side even after her father showed up with his personal guard. The Thunder God Tribe weren't much better, guarding the pair attentively as the kicked nest that the castle had become slowly settled down as morning arrived.

The Bosco delegation left soon after the sun rose, several of their members conspicuously absent, the excuse given that they had left earlier to ensure the safety of the road. Laxus had been the only one to attend the farewells, arms crossed with a permanent sneer etched across his face. The numbers missing just so happened to line up with the two bloody smears left by Alex, the two wounded from their group's own assault but had managed to escape, and the one he had vaporized. He was trying not to think about that. Alex had been strong enough to do what was necessary, and that's all he did too. It was either the enemy, or his friend and their charge, and he had chosen.

Alex stayed unconscious throughout it all, sleeping peacefully as his mana recovered.

**A/N:**

**TehStorm** – I'm still undecided about whether this is going to be a harem or OTP. I really like the way The Prince of Peace by SpecterOfFire did his relationships, so I'm strongly considering doing something similar. If I go OTP, no I haven't decided on who it'll be yet. If that happens, it'll likely be whatever flows out onto the page in the moment and will end up being a complete surprise for me too lol. I have S-Class planned out already, but that's all I'll say on that for now. **I actually haven't considered a nickname for him yet, so anyone that has a decent idea, feel free to toss it in the ring.**

**Raidentensho** – I'm honestly developing his abilities as I go and haven't yet considered the greater implications of what his magic could affect or be affected by since we're still so early in the story. My first inclination is to say 'no' to the Celestial Spirit magic, because while I can see the connection, I'm not sure it'll work for Alex' personality and how the ability is currently being used.

**Slaggedfire** – It definitely got a bit out of hand lol though I hope this chapter gave a bit more plot context beyond the silly humor. I never intended for him to fight eight assassins at once, that would have been ridiculous at his current level and abilities, but _running _from eight assassins spread across the night is perhaps a bit more feasible.

**entron **– I'm really glad you like it so far. I try pretty hard to make sure characters stay as close to their canon counterpart personalities as I can, which can get a bit confusing when writing three separate fandom fictions at once. If you ever hit a spot where you go 'damn that was really OOC' or it strikes you as weird, definitely don't hesitate to let me know because I will absolutely go back and fix it!

**Finder18** – Yea, I'm definitely going to be making canon a bit of my plaything where I can. I'm not entirely sure what you're asking by expand or short and concise, but I definitely don't plan to get to the canon time period and let things happen as they did, so I'm going to preemptively say expand. It's going to be (if I can stay motivated) a long story, with Alex attempting to muddy canon events as much as he can.

**Mori Regis** – It's been a few years (like… five or six) since I watched the early episodes of Fairy Tail, so I'm definitely going to make some mistakes, some of which I won't be able to fix like this slip up with Bisca. Going forward, unless it's something _really_ bad that thoroughly messes up something important, I'm going to ask you guys just assume it is part of the AU like this will have to be.

**Tiger Jacob** – Just like with Mori above, I've definitely forgotten a lot of the smaller details over the years, so with some mistakes like this I'm just going to have to chock it up to AU shenanigans since it's a little too late to go back and change it. Like I said above, if it's something _really_ important that makes no sense in context, definitely call me out on it and I'll fix it with a note in the next chapter.

I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far. Alex is definitely going to end up powerful but I'm not so sure about learning a bunch of different magic. He'll definitely learn some other types to help support his primary space stuff and for defense/utility, but while I want him powerful I don't want him godlike cause that gets boring quickly since you run out of enemies that provide a challenge. I'll be sure to spend some time delving a bit deeper into the magic as he goes about learning some beyond his innate gifts!

I'm still experimenting and learning about writing relationships, so we'll see how I end up doing at the end of the day lol but I definitely hope to throw a few twists and curveballs in there.

I'm primarily working off the FT timeline for events and such, so as long as I can logically swing it, I'll definitely be mucking around with canon events as much as possible.

I'd be lying if I said my motivation doesn't get boosted by excited positive reviews, but I don't let the negative ones bring me down too much either. The only way to get better is to keep writing, so I can't stop.

Everyone - I made a Discord for people who enjoy my stories to hang out, talk, and interact. If you're interested the link is: discord dot gg/gUNzv7G

You'll have to fix the format, but that'll get you into my server.

Chapter 10 for Unique is finished, and I've started work on IDW and DH, so expect the next chapters for everything this weekend like normal. Please continue reviewing to make sure I keep my shit straight! You guys are fantastic!


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Alex finally crawled his way back to the realm of the living that evening, groggily wiping his eyes as he sat up and looked around the room. Hisui was curled up next to him who also began stirring as he shifted off the bed. King Toma chose that moment to pop in with the rest of his friends.

"Ah, Alex! Excellent! Your friends just informed me you'll all be leaving once you had awoken." Hisui chose this moment to launch herself off the bed and onto Alex.

"You can't leave! You're my best friend! Who will keep me safe from the bad guys if you're gone?!" She was borderline hysterical until Alex gave her a disapproving frown. Patting her head gently he spoke softly.

"Hisui, I can't stay forever. I need to go back and see my mom and my friends at the guild." She was still sniffling and clinging to him when King Toma decided to interrupt with a warm smile.

"Hisui, dear, I'd actually like to introduce you to someone." This got her to glance up and rub her eyes as a young man walked in the room and dropped to a knee.

"Your majesty, Knight Arcadios responding as summoned." He was much younger than his older anime counterpart, his lack of facial hair compounding that observation. He was likely eighteen or nineteen at most.

"Good, good! Rise Arcadios. I've heard excellent things about you. I have a new assignment for you. From this day forward, you'll be the personal guard for my daughter. Recent events have persuaded me to take a more cautious approach to diplomacy moving forward. This naturally comes with a promotion and increased pay." Everyone simply watched on as the event played out before them, Alex slightly amused.

"It would be my ultimate honor, your majesty."

Toma nodded his head in satisfaction.

"Excellent! Then rise, Knight Captain Arcadios."

Everyone returned their attention to Alex and Hisui who shrunk under the combined attention of the group.

"Hisui, from now on Arcadios will keep you safe from the bad guys."

The man in question knelt once more, only to get to her level.

"I swear it. No harm will ever come to you under my watch." Toma could be seen to the side nodding in satisfaction. Alex nudged the young princess forward who rubbed her eyes and sniffled one last time.

"You promised, so you have to keep it."

"Of course, my lady."

Now that she had started to recover from her emotional outburst, her mind returned to Alex.

"But you still can't leave! You're my best friend!" Alex laughed and ruffled her hair.

"I have to. My mom would be very said if I never came home." That seemed to reach something deep within her as she suddenly went very quiet for several moments.

"Fine, but you have to come visit often!" Alex put on a pretend thoughtful look, purposefully dragging out the time until Hisui began to pout.

"Fine, fine. I'll come visit when I can, but I have my job as a Fairy Tail wizard too, so sometimes I might be busy for a long time." It was her turn to look thoughtful before finally agreeing.

"Okay!" She then launched herself into him again with a big smile and suddenly Alex had a feeling as though he might have been played. Glancing around at the smirking group, Alex began glaring. He had definitely been played.

* * *

Alex was good to his word. Upon returning to the guild, he went to present Master Makarov with the bottle of the king's personal reserves only for the bottle to 'slip from his fingers' and shatter across the floor. He had a particularly nasty smile painted on at Makarov's devastated, lifeless stare.

"Oh, no, Master. I'm so sorry. Your payment for putting me in danger slipped. The bottle was so heavy, almost as if it was burdened by some unspeakable sin."

He didn't go so far as to destroy all the alcohol in the building since the rest of the guild would be pretty put out if he did, but for months afterward the Master's drinks had a tendency to suddenly tip and spill themselves all over him.

He also visited the castle as promised, initially as a once a month trip, but later transitioning to any time his missions brought him to the capitol or the surrounding area. He spent his time with the princess under Arcadios' ever watchful eye, though that didn't begin regularly occurring until after he had promoted to B class.

He was officially given his B class exam in the summer of X774, shortly after Gray showed up. He was initially a quiet kid that mostly stuck to himself, which made sense under the circumstances. He had just finished losing his family in two different interpretations of the word.

With Alex' promotion to B rank came much more freedom, along with missions that ranged across Fiore. Namely, it gave him the opportunity to begin searching for an Ishgarian fable that Levy had told him about during her time studying myths and legends. There were stories told throughout various points in history that spoke of a mystical liquid capable of restoring the body and mind, and even return life to the dead. Waters of Life, Potion of Rebirth, Phoenix Tears, it went by many names over the millennia, but most recently it had been named Elixir, and Alex wanted it.

The process for the search began in conjunction with strategically picked quests, Levy and Cana both helping him coordinate with past accounts and rumors. Levy did the research, and Cana picked out the quests, verifying locations against a map of the kingdom and coordinating the areas of rumor with those that had been searched by keeping it documented. While they were the two main contributors, many of the guild children helped where they could, their generation viewing it as a big treasure hunt.

Their group went into research and training overdrive the following years, Alex' powers developing rapidly as he completed quest after quest, overcoming challenges suitable for his rank at every turn in his search for this legendary liquid. At least two lives were contingent on his success.

It was during these years that a few major events transpired.

* * *

A year and some change into his search, Alex stumbled across the opportunity to meet one of the future canonical antagonists. He was trekking through a particularly nasty forest renowned for the aggressive and dangerous creatures stalking its depths when he was bewildered to hear quiet sobbing in the distance. He was cautious, to be certain. There were creatures known for luring in prey using sounds, though they most certainly weren't native to this area. It took him almost ten minutes of slicing through wild brush before he spotted the source of the noise.

Sitting atop a rock before a waterfall was a young Minerva Orland, abused child, future guild leader of Sabretooth, turned eventual demon, turned reformed wizard. He blinked in blank surprise, her muttered sobs of apology continued as she rocked back and forth atop her stone pedestal.

"Hello there." He finally called out. She jumped in fright, scrambling away on hands and knees and huddling against a tree as she stared at him in shock. A moment of silence passed while tears continued to stream down her face.

"Soooooooo, hi. I'm Alex. What's your name?"

Minerva shivered before freezing up again.

"Ooooookay. Well, I'm going to go ahead and kill the Cuda Gators in the river. I'll be right back." With that he turned and leapt above the river.

"W-wait!"

Shooting her a casual glance, he stopped, building a String Bomb between his fingers while he hummed.

"What's up?" He tossed the bundle of compressed spatial fabric down into the river, his mana splitting apart the threads and shooting them out in a perfect sphere. Blood quickly began flowing downstream from the diced monsters, segments that remained whole floating and bobbing along the surface with the fast current. Minerva's eyes had dried, though they were now wide and held a complex mixture of different emotions as Alex landed in front of her.

"So! I'm Alex Crosius of Fairy Tail. What's your name?"

"Minerva. Minerva Orland." He gave her a big smile.

"It's nice to meet you, Minerva. If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing out here?" She looked down, tears welling up once again.

"My father left me here. He said I have to be strong, or he'll never take me back, that I'm not his daughter until I am." Alex had a visible frown on his face. Now that he was directly in front of her, the details of her past were coming back to him.

"Sounds more like a slave master than a father." She opened her mouth to argue but the raw disgust on his face closed it. "C'mon Minerva. You can come with me." He turned and began walking deeper into the forest, her following along subconsciously. "We'll be in here for a little bit longer while I search for something, but you can come back with me to Fairy Tail afterward."

"But… what about my father?" Alex turned and blinked back at her, nonplussed.

"What about him? He said it himself, you aren't his daughter anymore, so what he says no longer matters." That struck her to silence as she thought over his words. "Besides," he spoke up a little later while pushing through some low hanging branches. "I'm your friend now, and friends help each other." He heard sniffling behind him, catching a glimpse of the girl tearing up again. _'Oh, shit. Forgot that was a trigger.'_ He turned and gave her a big hug.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." He kept his voice low and soothing. "I won't be your only friend, everyone back at Fairy Tail would love to be your friend. We're all practically a big, noisy family. You and Cana will probably get along super well." That was apparently the wrong thing to say, Minerva breaking down into heaving sobs as she crushed him in her arms. _'Awe hell. She's probably never had any kind of physical affection or affirmation. I've really stepped in it this time.'_

It took several minutes of quiet gentle rubbing and soothing tones to get her back to a stable state.

"I'm sorry."

He turned and continued walking along the path he was carving out.

"It's fine. You should never apologize when a friend offers help, only when you've done something wrong." She went quiet after that, returned to her thoughts. They were almost to the forest center when she finally spoke up again. They had run into a few monsters along the way, though Alex quickly dispatched them with extreme prejudice.

"Alex, what's your magic? It's very strong." He shot her an excited smile.

"It's Space Magic. Pretty cool, yea?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

"M-me too!" her excitement got ahead of her. "I was told it's called Territory; it lets me manipulate space around me!" He gave her a big grin.

"That's really cool! I can do something similar but I bet yours has more specialized abilities. We'll have to test it out when we get home." His comment struck her silent once more, but she maintained a small hopeful smile as they finally broke through into an overgrown clearing.

Sitting in the middle of the area rested a dry fountain, vines and weeds covering its exterior. Alex sighed as he strolled up and looked down on the cracked stone.

"Another bust," he muttered under his breath. Giving a big stretch, he let out a long groan. "Oh well. This is the third dry fountain, so the stuff has to exist somewhere. I'll find it eventually." He turned back to Minerva who was silently watching him.

"Ready to go?" She glanced around the area shiftily, hesitating for a moment until finally nodding.

"Yea. Yea, I'm ready."

"No regrets, right?" She met his eyes this time with a small smile.

"No, no regrets. You were right. He said I wasn't his daughter anymore. I can do what I want." Alex gave a nod and a smile.

"Good. Now hold on, I've had enough adventure for today, so we'll be taking the fast way out." She cocked her head in confusion, squawking in surprise as he scooped her up, followed by a scream as he launched them into the air with a resounding _boom_ as they initially broke the sound barrier, Alex laughing all the way.

They arrived at the forest edge in record time, Alex slingshotting them across the area rapidly, then even further for almost fifteen minutes until he let them fall from the sky at the border of the nearest town. They were in the far North-Eastern section of Fiore, so while there were small villages out this way, it had yet to have a main railroad laid. The closest major rail line was further South and West, the settlements sitting at the base of Mount Hakobe hosting a station where they could purchase tickets. It would take another two days of travel for the pair to arrive, Alex only able to push himself so fast for short bursts in equally short periods of time, the process already leaving him short of breath in the brief interval.

"That was amazing!" Minerva had gotten over her initial fear and instead had begun marveling at the landscape as it flowed past. Her initial gasp of wonder once she opened her eyes had been worth the effort. Alex rented the pair of them a spare room for the night from one of the homeowners of the small nameless village, moving on quickly with the rise of the morning sun. A few days later saw the pair returned to Magnolia, the doors to the guildhall slamming open as they strolled through.

"Yo, everyone! I'm back, and I brought a new friend!" The hall was dead silent as the two were stared down and Minerva quickly began fidgeting. The next instant was flooded with chatter as members rushed and surrounded them. Alex bounced them over the heads of the crowd.

"Relax, scrubs." He dropped them next to Cana and Levy, giving the pair a warm smile. "Hey girls." Cana tossed her arms around him and pulled him down into a big hug.

"I'm glad you're back." She released him before ordering, "Now introduce us." He chuckled lightly.

"Right, this is Minerva. Minerva, this is Cana and Levy. I need to go talk to the master real quick, can you help her settle in?" Cana immediately grabbed the still speechless girl by the hand and dragged her down into the open seat next to her, instantly chatting away and introducing everyone and everything.

"Yo, Gramps." His response was a grunt and a flipping page.

"We need to have a quick chat." His eyes flicked up from the images and gave another grunt, springing to his feet.

"Alright brat. It's always something with you. Come along, m'boy."

They made the quick trip to his office where Alex cut straight to the chase.

"She's ex-Sabretooth. Her old man's the guild leader and left her out in that forest to force her to either become strong or die." Makarov's mug shattered in his grip.

"I see." The pair shared a few moments of silence.

"I understand. I'll handle any problems that come up. You brought her back, so she's Fairy Tail now." Alex gave the diminutive old man a smile.

"Thanks, Gramps."

"Bah. Whatever, it's no big deal. Go help her get settled, I'll get a room ready for her." Alex turned and left but as he reached the door, Makarov gave him a few parting words.

"You're a good kid, Alex. Thank you for making this guild a better place." He didn't look back but nodded and continued to leave. He needed to get Minerva stamped and comfortable. She already looked like she had been crying, but the big smile on her face said they were good tears. Cana made eye contact and gave him another small smile. The rowdy atmosphere continued with loud cheers as Minerva received her stamp, overwriting her old one. Conversation continued loudly for some time as everyone introduced themselves and fought to make a good impression.

All this went on until the doors to the guildhall slammed open once more, a young Erza Scarlet's head of bright red hair striding inside to more stunned silence.

**A/N:**

Discord: discord dot gg/YNNwwvy

**Rain Sennin** – We chatted over Discord a good amount, but for others who were interested I'll comment here too. I definitely leaned heavily on clichés in the last chapter but I don't plan to do that often. I'm going to be doing my best to keep the story feeling fresh and interesting by treading new ground as much as I can, but clichés will still occasionally pop up here and there.

A few comments have been about pacing and the need for a timeskip, so I hope this chapter (which I already had planned so this works out pretty well) addresses the feeling of childhood drag.

You brought up a bunch of good content I had originally forgotten about, so everyone else can expect some interesting developments in the coming chapters.

**TigerJacob** – I'm glad you brought up politics, because that's pretty much exactly what's happening here. Everyone knows the culprits, but with no evidence and the confusion surrounding the event, nothing can really be done without causing an international incident.

I see what you mean. There will be some magic like that for sure, since most known wizard saints know at least some alternative supporting magic to their mainstay styles, so I'm kinda viewing that as an inevitable requirement.

**Thomas Drovin** – Hopefully this chapter helps move the pace along, as I said above, I had this planned next anyway, so ideally the pace will pick up to keep everyone involved with the characters and story.

I'm publishing as I go for this kind of advice, so fussy or not, I appreciate the feedback! (It's not fussy, so no worries lol)

**Random guy 205** – Good thoughts, if it's okay with you I might steal some of these ideas later on, but a lot of that sounds like ideas for wizard saint levels of power, so it'll likely be a bit before I can include them. All magic has some kind of limitations attached to it as well, so I'll eventually have to draw a line somewhere that says 'this is beyond the scope of his magic.' I haven't decided where that line will be just yet though.

**Middernacht –** Yanderes scare me and have to be very well written before I can enjoy their eccentricities. To be honest, I don't trust myself to write one well enough to not find myself hating the character. Also, I don't spoil ships, so my lips are sealed!

**Everyone** – I've had a few reviews and messages concerned about power progression, nerfing, and enemies, so I'm going to put all of that into a single comment here. I'm absolutely not nerfing him. I just want his abilities to realistically progress. I suppose I didn't accurately represent my thoughts on the matter last time, so hopefully this will clear it up. I want him to _eventually become_ godlike, but not without the effort, struggle, and challenges necessary for it to make sense how he achieved that level of power. It isn't so much that I want to limit or nerf him, as much as I want it to make sense on how he earned the power he acquires.

I hope this clears up some of the confusion, but if not, please don't hesitate to message or review further. I'm here for this kind of discussion, to keep the story accurate and progressing in a positive manner, so keep it up! I appreciate how much everyone seems to care about the story and its direction, it makes me think that I'm doing something right to have such a passionate audience. :)


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

"My name is Erza Scarlet. I want to join this guild."

Everyone blinked. Alex blinked twice. It seemed she was a hardass even as a child. It could be expected, considering what she just finished going through. He bounced up and dropped himself in front of her.

"Hi, Erza Scarlet. I'm Alexander Crosius, it's nice to meet you." She shook his hand, though was eyeing it suspiciously for a moment. He kept his face serious and stoic. "Before we let you in, we have one question we ask everyone who wants to join." He purposefully drew out the moment to build a little tension. "What's your magic?" He gave her a big cheesy smile, everyone grinning along with him though staying quiet to hear her answer. She was visibly thrown off by the sudden shift in atmosphere, stuttering out her response.

"Uh… it's… it's Telekinesis." Alex bounced slightly on his toes.

"Cool! You're in!"

Everyone broke out into another round of cheers and celebration as Alex led Erza over to their group's table, the stamp still sitting there from Minerva's initiation. Erza kept glancing around bewildered.

"That's… that's it?"

"Yep! Fairy Tail is open to any wizard who wants to join! All we have to do now is get you stamped with the crest to show you're a member. Master Makarov will take care of the paperwork." He started another round of introductions once they arrived.

"Everyone, this is Erza. Erza, this is Cana, Levy, Laki, and Minerva. There's usually more of us, but a lot of them are either at home or out on a mission right now." Erza went around greeting the girls. Minerva was the most excited to meet her considering they were both joining on the same day, though it was well concealed. She was still hesitant and quiet, her father's abuse still reflected in her attitude and mannerisms.

"Actually Erza, Minerva just finished joining a few minutes before you came in." Alex pulled Minerva forward a bit, the girl shrinking slightly at the attention. "Joining the same day, so close together, it's almost like you're guild sisters." He gave a teasing grin to the Asian girl who was pouting at him for putting her on the spot. Erza was glancing back and forth between the two of them, then around at the group of smiling girls.

"I…" She was hesitant to voice her thoughts, but the positive atmosphere seemed to pull her from her shell ever so slightly. "I've never had a sister." That wasn't entirely true since she considered the other kids at the Tower of Heaven as family, but they were gone now, and she was all that was left. Minerva seemed to pluck up slightly at Erza's remark, taking one of her hands in her own.

"I've never had a sister either. Can… can we be sisters?" It was with quite a lot of hesitation that Erza slowly nodded her head.

"Yes, yes, I think I'd like that."

Alex watched on with a small satisfied smile. It was likely the two had subconsciously identified each other as slightly damaged in similar ways, reaching out to support the other in a way. Alex had always wondered what would have happened had Minerva and Erza found each other sooner, and now it seemed he had his answer. They were kindred spirits, though in another timeline one had received the love and support she needed while the other was forced to endure her torment.

After introductions finished, Erza finally received her stamp, the crest present and proudly displayed on her left shoulder just as it was canonically. As the young girl sat to the side with Minerva, Cana pulled him to sit next to her.

"You've been so busy recently, and with all these new people, you better not forget about me!" Alex gave her a big smile and a hug.

"I would never forget about you, Cana. I'm sorry if I've been neglecting you. How about tomorrow we go have fun in town, just the two of us?" The young girl nodded in satisfaction.

"Yes, I'd like that."

He gave her another smile.

"I'll always be around for you, Cana, you just have to ask." She blushed at his sincerity but smiled all the same.

"Good."

"That said, I do feel a little responsible for Minerva, and Erza is just as new." He let out a long breath in thought.

"We still have some time before dinner. Let's do that, then." Cana looked up at him, an unspoken question in her eyes.

"Hey, Minerva, Erza, since you're both new, how about Cana and I show you around Magnolia?" The pair of what appeared to be fast friends shared a glance together before silently agreeing and nodding in sync, Erza speaking up for the both of them.

"Yes, we would like that. Thank you, Alex." He turned and called over his shoulder to another corner of the room.

"Hey! Gray! We're going to go do stuff in town, wanna come?!"

A relaxed response carried over.

"Yea, sure, sounds fun."

"The other guy is Gray Fullbuster. He does Ice Make magic. That reminds me, we never told you about us! I'm a Spatial wizard. I just call it Space Magic, though I suppose it could technically be considered Space Make magic? Nah, that's too wordy." He shifted his attention to Cana who picked up where he left off.

"My magic is Card magic. It's a holder type that lets me do all sorts of things with my decks." She shuffled the deck in question as emphasis. Levy picked up next.

"I use a Letter Magic variation that I call Solid Script." She whipped out a pen and scrawled _FIRE_ into the air, the letters bursting into flames on completion. Laki took her turn.

"I'm similar to Gray in that I use Maker magic, but mine is Wood Make." The wooden table under her fingers slowly began to etch designs of a variety of flowers across the surface, each etching suddenly popping free from the table and morphing into a three dimensional imitation of their counterparts. Laki didn't like to make living plants very often since it made her sad that they would inevitably wither away. Everyone expectantly turned their attention to the final member of their group, Minerva.

"Um, my magic is called Territory. It's Space magic like Alex' spatial domain, but I can do a lot of different things he can't with it. He showed me on the trip here." A little bit of mana later had Laki's flowers popping in and out of existence around the table to the applause of the rest of the group.

Her magic was much more specialized than Alex' own, giving her more flexibility with mana expenditures while his gave greater versatility at the cost of increased mana consumption. He would eventually be able to teleport, both himself, others, and objects, but he would need to be much more powerful to achieve any appreciable distance with the technique. Once he achieved proper reserves for an A rank wizard, he should be able to manage extended short range teleportation, enough to begin incorporating it into combat strategies. He'd likely only manage long range teleportation after successfully acquiring S class. With a bit more introductory details out of the way, Alex led the group out of the hall.

"Let's stop by my place first and get a snack. We have enough time before dinner, so it won't ruin our appetites." Those who had previously eaten his mom's cooking and baking all instantly eagerly agreed, the few who hadn't simply shrugging and going along with the group.

The uninitiated would learn. Momma Crosius made the best food and desserts in Magnolia, and every single one of those children would fight anyone who said otherwise.

"Mom! I'm home!" The café customers watched on as Mariela poked her head out from the kitchen with a big smile on her face.

"Alex! I see you brought a bunch of your friends along with you. Get them seated and come lend me a hand in the kitchen would you? We're pretty slow right now, so once we finish up the current orders I can take a break." Alex floated a couple open tables together and organized the chairs.

"Give us maybe ten minutes guys. I'll get you all some drinks while you wait." Cana hopped in close in excitement.

"Bring us all that fruit juice you make!"

Alex smiled and ruffled her hair.

"Of course, six fruit specials coming right up." He disappeared into the back as the girls and Gray found their seats. Levy, Cana, and Laki kept the conversation flowing for the shier members of their group, Gray maintaining his stoic silence as the only male member at the table. A few minutes later, six glasses of a fruit juice blend came floating out and settled onto their table, Cana scooping it up and immediately taking a long sip. The others took a much more measured approach, but all shared smiles after. A folded airplane landed at Cana's place seconds later and unfolded itself to reveal the note inside stating they would be out soon with snacks.

True to his word, he returned with his mother a few minutes later, a train of plates following them. Carefully, he placed a dessert snack in front each kid according to their past favorites. For Minerva, he gave her their café's specialty dessert, strawberry cheesecake, his personal favorite, while Erza received a slice of strawberry cake. He cheated with that one.

Everyone waited patiently as Mariela received introductions from their new members, though lines of drool could be seen on a few of their faces.

"Mom, these two just joined today. This is Minerva and this is Erza."

"My! Alex your friends are all so cute! You should all come by more often, I know Alex gets busy, but you are all welcome here any time. Cana, you're more than welcome to bring them along with you whenever you want. You should know by now that we're family." She was her typical congenial self, everyone instantly relaxing in the presence of her warm smile. The newcomers looked between the two in confusion.

"Family?"

"Oh, yes dears. Cana's father is gone on missions frequently, so she's been living with us since she joined. That reminds me, where are all of your parents? I'd truly enjoy meeting the people who raised such responsible young men and women." She instantly seemed to realize she had stomped into the middle of the minefield and kicked over every single explosive at one time. A depressed pall seemed to immediately cover the group and a concerned frown overtook Mariela's normally sunny disposition. Alex broke in with a low voice.

"Uh, Mom… Everyone at this table except Cana is essentially an orphan." She let out a gasp.

"Oh, you poor things… I'm so sorry, that was very insensitive of me." Everyone immediately made an effort to reassure her it was alright though her frown still remained.

"Alex, why didn't you tell me that so many of your friends were all alone like this?"

"Well, uh… Mom it really wasn't any of our business."

"Nonsense! I'm making it my business! No child should go through life without some kind of parent!" He could tell she was building up steam, a decision already made. Any time she got like this her mind was already made up and heaven forbid anyone get in the way of Momma Mari.

"I'll be right back, I need to speak with someone. Enjoy your snacks, I'll be right back." With that she was gone in a whirlwind of motion. Alex let out a sigh.

"She gets like this sometimes. Don't worry, it'll be fine. She's probably just going to do something crazy like buy a home for all of us to live in together."

The group exchanged a bunch of concerned looks.

"Is that really okay?" Levy spoke up. "That couldn't possibly be cheap or easy." Alex simply looked apathetic about the situation at this point.

"We're actually pretty well off. Our café is the most popular in the whole city, plus my own income from all the missions I've done has been going into our joint account. I'd be willing to bet the call she's making is to the owner of that apartment complex up in the hills. They've had it for sale for a few years now, so she'll probably get a pretty good deal on it, though it'll probably need to be renovated."

He continued eating his slice of cheesecake as the others exchanged another round of glances. He peered up at them from his plate.

"Look, if you're all really worried about the money, just help pay for the bills to keep the place running and intact. Even C rank missions pay more than enough to cover whatever your splits would be." That seemed to mollify the group. Levy spoke up as they all began to take bites of their food.

"Besides, it's all hypothetical, right? I mean, that was just a guess, yea?" Cana and Alex matched eyes, then looked at Levy as one.

"Nah, she's definitely buying that place. I'm looking forward to living with everyone, we'll have a lot of fun!" Cana gave the group a big grin.

"She's been looking for a reason to move out of the space above the café for a while anyway. This just opened the way." Alex gave a shrug. "Like I said, don't worry about it. As long as you're all fine with it, we'll all be living together soon. It'll be like an actual big family instead of just seeing each other at the guild."

The girls all finally returned to their food, most of them with small happy smiles. After all the unhappiness and trauma of their short lives, having someone treat them so warmly and genuinely was immensely unexpected but very welcome. Erza was even letting out little sounds of enjoyment with every bite, her poorly masked pleasure leaking into the others. Everyone had just finished up when his mother came bustling back into the room.

"Good news kids! You're looking at the proud new owner of Magnolia Hills Apartments!" Alex shot the group an incredibly smug look that just screamed 'I told you so'.

"We're probably going to have to rename and rebrand the place, Mom. I'll go up there and start renovating it tomorrow." He turned to look at the group. "If you guys are okay with it, you can all come with and pick out which rooms you want so I can personalize it while I'm at it. No pressure or anything, we aren't going to force you to live with us if you don't want to." The pair gave shared smiles at the dead expressions on the faces of the group, Cana smiling along with them.

"They totally planned this beforehand, didn't they?" Levy stage whispered to Laki.

"No doubt. They've been planning this for a while. Sinister. Sneaky. I like it, count me in." Levy nodded as well. Erza still looked slightly conflicted while Minerva looked close to tears once again. Gray was frozen stiff, not having moved or spoken in some time. He finally broke in, his voice soft.

"I really appreciate what you're trying to do, but I'm going to have to decline. Thank you for the cake." With that he made a swift exit under the concerned eyes of everyone present.

"Don't worry. He's still struggling with his own demons and needs a bit more time to resolve them." Alex stared after Gray's back, the girls nevertheless exchanging concerned looks despite his words.

Flexing his magic slightly, he levitated the plates and silverware off the table and led the procession to the kitchen doors. A jug of juice floated out as the dishes danced their way inside. His mom followed them in to take care of the washing. Alex could do it with his magic easily but she insisted on doing many of the mundane tasks. He slipped inside to spend a few more minutes alone with her and discuss some details for his work the next day.

Erza continued to maintain her silence. The whole day had been a whirlwind of emotion and activity, and she was just now properly digesting the situation. Minerva, her… guild sister, was discussing something with Cana. Her ears pricked up as Cana excitedly explained how she trained regularly with Alex when he was home. To hear her tell it, his training sessions were exhausting, and he maintained the intensity, never once slacking off.

"You should all watch his spars with Gray. He's never even come close to losing once, and Gray's Ice Make is very formidable! He's even done missions with Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe, and they're A rank!" She looked so proud of Alex at that moment as though it was her own accomplishments she was bragging about. If he'd been present he would have definitely poked fun at her out of embarrassment.

It was completely subconscious, Erza murmuring a question aloud during a lull in the conversation.

"So he's strong?"

Everyone blinked at the previously mute girl. Cana picked up the conversation.

"He's… complex. It's hard to describe. He's always smiling, always helping out, doing what he believes is best, but behind his friendliness there's this burning drive. It's almost like a desperation, though I have no idea why he would feel that way." She stared hard at the table as though it held the answers she desired. "I overheard stories about when he first arrived at the guild right after he moved to Magnolia. He used to be even more of a training maniac than he is now, according to the adults. They used to be pretty worried about him. From what I heard, the way he found his magic was pretty traumatic."

That wasn't what she meant. It was interesting but Cana didn't answer what she wanted to know.

"But is he strong? Is his magic powerful?"

Cana regained her proud smile with her next sentence.

"Yes. He's incredibly strong. My dad is Gildarts and even he said Alex is a monster in the body of a child, though he didn't know I was listening when he said it."

Erza went silent, a thoughtful look in her eyes mirrored by Minerva at her side. The group continued with their drinks in silence until she seemed to mentally resolve something.

"Then if he's the strongest, I'll have to at least be as strong as him. Will he teach me?" The boy in question popped his head out of the kitchen.

"Teach you what?" The group startled, more than one of them jumping in their seats.

"Erza wants to learn to be strong like you." Cana picked up as if nothing had happened. Alex cocked his head in confusion. Erza hesitated at his inquisitive glance but strung her courage together.

"Are… are you strong?"

She'd be unnaturally quiet so far, simply following along as the group traveled, so her first direct question in his presence caught him slightly off guard.

"Uh… I don't think so? I'm not strong." Something seemed to pass through his eyes that the rest of the children missed before he recovered. "I'm only B rank, so I have a long way to go." A few plates of food went floating out over his head into the dining area.

"Cana says you're the strongest." The statement was delivered with such deadpan conviction that Alex was put on his back foot, casting a weird glance in Cana's direction.

"Well, Cana says some pretty weird stuff." The girl in question puffed her cheeks and stuck out her tongue. "I guess I can show you what I do for training, but there's not much I can teach you beyond that."

"That's good enough for now. Maybe I'll find what I'm looking for during that time." Alex nodded in acceptance.

"Alright. By the way, you might want to talk to the master about your eye. That eyepatch gives you a pretty unique look, but I bet being able to see would be better."

She reached up and placed a palm over her missing eye, her healthy eye going down to the table. She didn't respond, returning to her silence.

Casting his eyes over the rest of the group he gave them all a big smile.

"We're just about finished in here, we'll be out in a few."

He returned to the kitchen to finish up his discussion with his mother. He'd need to dip into whatever liquid assets they still held to purchase supplies in the morning for renovations, though he'd need to do some initial inspections to determine what would be needed. He was suddenly very glad he'd taken all of those construction jobs during his time in D rank.

The mother-son duo eventually returned a short while later.

Alex suddenly found Erza and Minerva both staring at him intensely.

""I'm in."" They stated simultaneously. Minerva speaking up ahead of Erza.

"We talked while you were in the back. If you're going to be training Erza to be strong, I want to join you. Living together makes that much easier." Erza seemed to have reached the same conclusion. At her words, Mariela began bouncing happily and clapping in excitement.

"So," she addressed the group. "I'm going to need to rename the place to get some business flowing into the rooms we don't end up using. It's going to be home to several Fairy Tail wizards, and it sits on top of a hill looking over the city. What do you all think of calling it Fairy Hills?"

**A/N:**

**TehStorm** – There'll be some character development coming up between all of the characters currently with FT similar to this chapter. Now that we've acquired a good amount of main cast those interactions can start to come out.

I can't say anything about the Fairy spells. That'd be big spoilers if I said anything either way.

**TitanEmperor** – Maybe! I can't say just yet, but if he does develop a power similar to a gate spell, it'll no doubt be very, very mana intensive.

**Yukilumi** – Thank you for the criticism! I'd absolutely agree that so far this has mostly been backstory development to help place Alex in the world, but we're finally getting into a time/power period where events can start to be truly affected. My other stories have much easier ways to screw with story elements, with the FT universe requiring a bit more foundation to really start to take off, so hopefully it continues to improve going forward.

**TigerJacob** – That was also my main gripe. While the relationship foundations were well done, and the character motivations well laid out, the pace was _very_ slow. None of my characters will be doing the playboy aspect. Daichi in Unique might run close, but I really dislike those types of people IRL. Nobody deserves to have their feelings played with like that, and I try to have all of my characters approach romance as a serious commitment. I really don't want to represent love and attraction as frivolous endeavors because IRL they should never be treated that way.

I'm definitely going to be looking for feedback on balancing character interactions in the future, especially if I roll the harem route for all my stories, which is looking more and more likely the further I get.

Gray will get his time in the spotlight, but I did feel the need to start pushing the story along a bit, so I'm being forced to be selective on interactions.

**Slaggedfire** – Awe, c'mon man did you have to phrase it that way? Lmao

Nobody is guaranteed relationship material! Just because they're a character that gets screen time doesn't mean they'll be bumping uglies later!

**Random guy 205 – **I like where your thoughts are. The ideas have merit and he's getting to a point in his power levels where his magic would likely start showing those kind of effects.

**Blaze2121** – I'm usually of the same opinion. Once the group gets over a certain amount, characters start getting lost in the telling.

**Serioushugsies – **Honestly, that was pretty much for ease of plot. I didn't want to do the whole 'My name is blahblahblah, but now I'm blahblahblah and have to emotionally cope with leaving my old life behind and accepting my new one.' I've read enough to simply be tired of that.

I did kinda gloss over the trauma as part of a time skip. Part of his initial training drive was handling that grief and anger. He basically spent the first six months in Magnolia isolated and training like a madman. It's also why he's so protective of his mother even years later and violently reacts to anyone attempting to take advantage of her.

Hopefully this gives a little more perspective to those situations.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N:** I made some errors with characterizing Erza as a child that were pointed out to me in the last chapter. As a result, I changed a good amount of the chapter. There were no major plot points altered, just some scene swapping and dialogue alterations to more accurately reflect her personality as a child. If you don't want to reread the chapter, know that ultimately nothing will be changing moving forward, so it won't damage your understanding of the story.

**Chapter Twelve**

The group unanimously decided to occupy the top floor of the complex. Paint was purchased, lumber acquired as needed, nails, hammers, brushes, rollers, updated magical appliances, all number of changes were improved and installed. By the end of the week, the newly rebranded Fairy Hills had been established and thoroughly restored, though they did end up taking out a loan in order to fully fund the renovations. It all worked out in the end, however, with Fairy Hills modernized into a top-end apartment building.

When word spread that some Fairy Tail wizards and Mariela were renovating and moving into the building, applications to live in the complex came rolling in even before they had established monthly pricing, floor plans, or available amenities. At Alex's suggestion, they ended up instituting a women and children only policy. Single women or single women with children were eligible to apply, though male children would be required to move once reaching the age of majority at sixteen.

It was ultimately meant to be a safe haven for women and the girls of Fairy Tail, the children addendum only existing so Mariela and Alex were abiding by their own rules. It was poor form not to lead by example after all. Prices were set to their canon counterparts at one hundred thousand jewel a month. Jewel had been modeled after the Japanese Yen which made it easy for Alex to make a rough comparison between prices at an early age. One US dollar approximately converted to a hundred Japanese Yen, making one hundred thousand Jewel about a thousand USD in comparison. It was expensive, but wouldn't break the bank.

Even with the higher price point, the exclusivity, high quality, and restricted living arrangement was a big selling point amongst women of Magnolia's community, and the open rooms were filled within three months, though mostly with the ladies from Fairy Tail. Mariela ended up hiring a live-in manager to oversee the dorm operations. As much as she might have wanted to, she couldn't handle both the café and the apartments at the same time, so she stuck to what she knew best.

In that time Alex introduced the girls to his training methods. He rose with the sun, his mother going to work while he woke the girls. Morning training was stretching and light calisthenics to warm up the body and mind, then a small breakfast, followed by a run to the guild where they would utilize the practice yards to exhaust their magic.

Gray had ended up joining them in the mornings at the guild, stating in his usual boisterous attitude that had been missing surrounded by all the girls that he couldn't let Alex and Erza, who had already beaten him into pulp twice, get farther ahead than they already were. His exact words were: "I'm going to work harder than both of you, then I'll be the strongest once I beat you!" Erza had scoffed but Alex gave him a big grin.

"You've gotta keep up then, Gray. Otherwise, Erza will just use you as a punching bag again." The teasing worked wonders, getting Gray riled up and working at a hundred and ten percent. All it took was a passing comment to the kid stripper to get him back into what Alex was calling Mode Eleven, since he turned up his intensity instantly after each jab when he was slacking off.

Most often, the kids could be seen paired off into certain areas where they worked together to manifest new ideas or support each other if one of the pair accidentally overdid it. Cana and Levy could almost always be found by a set of training dummies, Cana using them for target practice, honing her card throwing abilities while Levy worked on mixing and matching Solid Script word effects and their applications on targets.

Erza and Minerva gravitated to each other, Erza familiarizing herself with her telekinesis while Minerva would manipulate or provide resistance by utilizing her domain to warp the space. It gave her practice in more subtle applications of her abilities while Erza strengthened her own simultaneously, adjusting to her new armor along the way. Their methods helped to increase the pace in which they both became more comfortable in both their body's and magic's capabilities, though that was not to say the pair didn't spar regularly. They did, testing new ideas and combat techniques against each other.

Laki and Gray, as Maker magic users, seemed to latch onto each other at the hip, often brainstorming and competing against each other in equal measure for new potential constructions. More than once Alex had been needed to break the pair apart when they had gotten into heated Maker duels and began disturbing the rest of the yard.

The rest of the children around their age would occasionally join in the practice, but they never made a habit of training every morning as the core group did. Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe, while interested, were often too busy as A-rank mages to commit any notable time to join the group out in the yard.

When their magic was drained, they trained in weaponry, practicing with their chosen discipline until their reserves had recovered enough to return to magical development. Lunch was eaten at the guild, then those who Levy had not yet had the chance to help test out of the kingdom mandated education would leave for classes.

It was ultimately a less intensive program than he had initially started those few years ago, but one that still worked and enhanced every aspect of a wizard's arsenal. With Alex's increasingly large reserves, he was beginning to run into an issue of draining his ethernano quickly enough to maintain productivity.

He'd taken to utilizing his more destructive spells and casting them over the cliff edge and out above the lake to minimize destruction to the surrounding environment. It was during one of these sessions that he overcharged a spell during some experimentation. He had been practicing condensing his Spatial Sphere into a single highly dense point when the successful result ripped a hole in space and caused a gravity locus to spring up in the surrounding area with the spell still in his hand.

He was unaffected by the results of his own magic, but the others in the practice yard were not so lucky, most being picked up and flung around the area in rotation around their new gravitational focus. Those few that had been nearby had it the worst, the gravitational fluctuations of the condensed space slamming them into the ground or nearby walls.

Alex scrambled with wide eyes to crush the accidental phenomena he'd created in his hands, additional ethernano dispersing the creation and allowing the surrounding space to stabilize.

"Uh, I'm really sorry everyone. I didn't know that would happen." He was thoroughly embarrassed but all the present members were ultimately unharmed so they all brushed it off, though he was asked that any similar practice be done in unpopulated areas from now on.

"What_ was_ that?" Cana had ended up asking. "Your other magic had some effects like that but never anything that crazy!" Everyone was paying attention as the question was asked. Alex stared down at his open palm where an ability had sat. One that had opened up many questions.

"It's called Black Hole."

In his original universe, black holes were theorized as infinitely dense points of matter that warped the fabric of space in the location which they occupied. What he had created was a pale imitation, but was reminiscent of the phenomena. However, his was not matter based, it was created by artificially twisting and condensing the spatial fabric itself into a localized gravitational anomaly. He hadn't even known such a thing was possible.

The incident had only served to stimulate Erza and Minerva, both having been close enough to have felt the titanic pressure from the ball of condensed space and mana. They went at their training with renewed intensity, though their independent reasons were vastly different.

Erza had taken to wearing her signature armor, despite being initially much more social than her canon counterpart due in large part to Alex and Minerva's influence. She was still a cold hardass but being surrounded constantly by the other children, unlike when she had isolated herself in another timeline, had been wearing away that façade slowly but surely. In recent days Alex had even spotted her smiling and talking with others in her own quiet way.

While Erza was motivated by a desire to be strong enough to never be in pain again, and a currently unnoticeably small but growing desire to protect her new family, Minerva was kept progressing by her wish to prove to her old man that he was wrong. She would be strong, but it would be on her terms and would have nothing to do with how he raised her. It was part spite and part newfound love and pride in herself that she was discovering with the help and support of her friends.

They truly did become like a small family, the children all supporting each other. When one stumbled, the others stopped and helped pick their brother or sister back up. Alex watched them all grow over several months until he felt they were capable of standing both on their own, and together. It was when he was preparing to renew his search for the Elixir that Makarov joined him as he watched over them one morning.

"Brat."

"Gramps."

They watched along in silence as the group of children practiced in various spots around the yard.

"Why do you carry this burden? It is not yours to bear, yet you've chosen to do so regardless. You should be part of this group, not leading it as you are." Alex was silent for several long moments where the pair watched Cana help a struggling Levy back up after a particularly difficult magical feat.

"Gramps…" He hesitated, suddenly feeling very vulnerable as he continued watching the group. Alex finally turned to look down at the diminutive wizard saint, meeting his eyes.

"Gramps, I'm terrified." And it was true. Makarov could see the all-consuming intensity of the fear he normally kept shoved deep within him and hidden away. It stilled his heart as the magnitude of how profoundly afraid one of his children was settled into his thoughts. Alex continued, murmuring at a level barely audible as he shifted back to watching his friends.

"I can't save them all. I won't be able to. I'll never be strong enough to keep everyone from harm, so I can only do my best and show them the way to keep themselves safe." He let out a long breath. "I may not be able to save everyone, but I don't want to look back and say _'I could have done more.'_ I will do whatever it takes to protect my most precious people. It's a burden I will bear every single time with no regrets." He turned back to Makarov who had not taken his eyes off the child next to him. "Whatever it takes."

"I will be the bulwark to shield them and to do that I need to be stronger. Vastly more powerful. To be the shoulders that hold up the sky for them." Makarov finally turned away.

"When does it end, m'boy?"

"It doesn't, Master."

"Just… promise me one thing. If they choose to help support the sky alongside you, promise me that you won't turn them away."

Alex was quiet for several minutes as he grappled with some unseen foe until finally, he broke down with a sigh, shoulders slumped.

"I promise."

They shared silence for a time until Makarov spoke up once more.

"I have failed you, my child. I'm sorry."

Alex's voice took on a lighthearted teasing tone.

"Nonsense, old man. This is my choice and I chose it gladly."

Makarov grunted in response before shifting topics.

"Your search for the Elixir, it's not going well, is it." It was a statement of fact phrased as a question.

"No. It's not."

"I can see it in your stance. You're running out of time for something. The tension in your neck and shoulders is practically visible, m'boy."

Alex's only response was a frown and crossed arms. It was October of X776. He had nine months to find at least a single dose of the mystical substance… or Layla Heartfilia would die.

"As a Wizard Saint, I have the good fortune to be afforded some additional privileges which include knowledge of rumors at a level higher than most. Focus your sights on the kingdom of Isenberg. I'll authorize your travel." He raised his voice to grab the attention of the group who were pausing their training to listen. "With my authority as a Wizard Saint and Guild Master, I'm turning this into an official mission. This is now your A-class trial. Find the Elixir and bring it back."

Alex gave a deep formal bow.

"I will not fail, Master."

The small old man gave another grunt of acknowledgement then turned to the onlooking crowd.

"For the rest of you brats, this is your chance to be considered for a B class promotion exam. You're all around the same level of power or experience, so I'm willing to offer the opportunity to everyone who helps out and proves they're capable of operating on a larger scale." The old man made sure to make eye contact with everyone present.

"Both old and new members that contribute or have contributed will be considered for B rank at the completion of the mission. Your efforts from this point forward will determine your eligibility for further promotion." Everyone stared in silence as he finished his declaration.

"Well? Hop to it then!" The group was sent scrambling, Levy organizing the group into the less adventurous few and the more combat oriented. Levi and Cana planned to handle the research and plot areas most likely to contain their goal since Cana was actually already B class. The second group of Erza, Minerva, Laki, and Gray would make the trips in pairs into the danger zones to search for the targets. They would all be operating within Fiore while Alex would be their agent outside of the kingdom, starting with Makarov's lead in Isenberg.

**A/N:**

Discord: discord dot gg/YNNwwvy

Anyone is welcome to join and hang out. I have idea teases for future fics and a lot of brainstorming that I do that shows how I go about setting up my characters and plot before I start writing, as well as some of my writing process for anyone who also writes or is thinking about writing.

Shout out to Rain Sennin for beta reading this for me!

**TigerJacob** – I made a slight edit to that part of the scene. I'm not a victim of abuse nor am I a child psychologist so I made quite a few edits to the last chapter to hopefully correctly display an appropriate response. Erza and Minerva are going to be a lot of fun to having running around together lol

**Slaggedfire** – This will ultimately end up being just a background detail to the story. Most of the kids in the guild were orphans and most of the girls ended up living in Fairy Hills, so this isn't exactly an orphanage collecting side quest or anything. It's closer to something I thought would be a fun detail to throw in from canon.

**Blaze2121** – Yukino has almost no backstory that I can leverage to find her. It kinda worked out with Minerva since I could twist her backstory to suit the situation, but there's little to no reference material for a lot of the characters' locations before showing up in the canon story. Romance is top secret, everything will be a surprise, or I'll die trying.

**Zhany** – I already have that planned out but can't discuss it due to major spoilers.

**Thomas Drovin** – Glad you're still enjoying it! Fairy Hills is actually a nod to canon material. That's where most of the female members actually lived in the canon story since it was a female exclusive dorm.

**Kongarthur – **This… is probably true. Lemme go fix that. I didn't edit or beta read any of these last chapters as much as I normally do so there were a lot more inconsistencies than normal.

**Reader0007** – There is in my retelling of the universe. I hate power of friendship deux ex machina stories. We operate by logic and defined rules when I'm playing god lol

**TheRangerBoy** – Thank you for sharing! I'm very sorry you had to go through something like that growing up. As I mentioned above, I was never abused as a child and have a very limited understanding of the psychology of the situation so I'm just trying to represent what was shown in canon as best as I can.

**Middernacht** – Mariela is way too sweet of a person to pull something like that lol

**Raidentensho** – I haven't gotten that far in planning yet, so maybe? No promises though.


	14. Chapter 13

Discord: discord dot gg/YNNwwvy

**Chapter Thirteen**

The day before Alex was set to leave, Gray pulled him aside before lunch for a private chat looking unusually stoic and serious. Alex was doing his best to spend time with everyone before he left, especially his mother, since this trip would have him gone for a few months at the minimum.

"What's up, Gray? If this is another challenge, remember, you still haven't beat Minerva or Erza yet!" He received a halfhearted smile in return before the mood quickly shifted back to serious, Gray's expression looking a little lost and thoughtful.

"No." He took a breath. "No, not a challenge. I… well, I wanted to tell you what I know about Isenberg. The locals call it that, so if you want to blend in, make sure to use that name instead of Iceberg like the rest of the world."

"Locals, huh? So, you're originally from there?" Alex received a soft laugh, Gray staring down into Magnolia from their perch by the guild hall.

"Yea. I was born there. Lived there with my family. Both of them." Alex remained silent, Gray reminiscing and lost in memory momentarily. "Anyway, yea, call it Isenberg while in the country or you'll instantly be pegged as a foreigner. The people there are tough. It's a hard place to live since so much of it is typically ice and snow, and the villages will initially be pretty suspicious of you, so you'll have to earn trust everywhere you go." Alex was nodding along and taking mental notes.

"Even as a kid, you'll be under heavy scrutiny, perhaps even because you're a kid traveling alone, you'll be watched more closely, but once you help out with a few requests the people will warm up to you. Wandering wizards have a much easier time of it since there's always so much work to be done. You'll be fighting a lot more monsters regularly outside of the walls and safety of established towns. Oh, and their mission system is set up differently than in Fiore. They have a bounty board system that's individual to each town or village needs, though the bigger cities show all requests available by region. Guilds there are more like mercenary groups or bounty hunters, it should make it easier to blend in though." Gray went silent and thoughtful for a few moments.

"That's… that's really all I can think of right now that might be helpful." He hesitantly scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile.

"No, Gray, that was very helpful. Thank you!" Alex gave him a big grin which Gray returned with a bit more confidence. "That said, I'm still not going to fight you when I get back if you haven't at least beaten Minerva." Gray threw his hands up in the air at the unfairness.

"Awe, come on!" Alex chuckled, patting Gray on the shoulder as they returned to the hall.

"Think of it like I'm the evil overlord like in the stories. The hero can't just rush to the big bad guy or his minions will attack him while the hero is distracted." Gray was nodding along, murmuring in agreement.

"Yea. Yea, that makes sense."

"And who exactly are you calling minions?" Minerva cut in, arms crossed and eyes narrowed at Alex who glanced at Erza standing by her side, eyes glaring equally as intense. Alex quickly adopted an expression of ignorant innocence.

"Nobody in particular. It was just a metaphor." He apparently needed to work on his expressions, the girls very obviously not buying it.

"Oh?" Cana cut in from where she was seated nearby. "If that's the case, then you definitely won't mind buying your _friends_ gifts from Iceberg, since, you know, we aren't your minions or anything after all." She had an insufferably smug smile on her lips, mirrored by Levy who was standing over a map of Fiore but had paused her work to stare at him.

"Of course, Cana. Why wouldn't I bring you guys cool stuff I find on my trip?" Cana's smug look was now mirrored by all the girls in the group, Alex becoming acutely aware that he was being played, but going along with it regardless. He had planned to buy them all mementos anyway, so this wasn't really a loss and they were allowed to think they pulled a victory over on him, though he was beginning to wonder if getting all of the most headstrong girls together into a single supportive group was a good idea.

Nah, it definitely was. They were all much happier and friendly together now than they ever looked growing up apart in canon. Levy broke in and distracted the group just as a soft smile began to creep its way up his face as he looked around at his friends.

"Speaking of Iceberg, I think I have a lead for you to start with." She shifted a few papers and moved a few books off of a stack before raising a rolled-up parchment. "I found a copy of major historical events of Earthland in the library after the master gave us a direction. This specific scroll talks about Iceberg's major occurrences from the point of view of a traveler passing through the area at the time and I found a few sentences that seemed relevant to our search." She unfurled the paper and began scanning through it, the rest of the group huddling up to the table as she pointed out one particular paragraph from the document.

"It reads: 'The warring tribes fought tooth and nail for months. I was unable to travel, kept as a "guest" of the Tanahuit and forced to watch as they butchered each other day after day. By the end of the fighting, the glacier that was their battlefield was dyed red in the blood of their people. The chieftains, seeing what they had wrought in their desire for immortality, ceased hostilities and jointly declared the land a sacred place, though the damage had already been done. The women and children of both tribes were devastated, most of their husbands and fathers frozen beneath the never ceasing snowfall.' He goes on to talk more about his eventual release and travels but that's all I've found so far that could be helpful." Levy glanced up to the horrified faces of the remainder of the group, though Alex only looked thoughtful.

"So, I'm possibly looking for a sacred place to the people of the land, a glacier, and past battlefield, likely with lower layers of ice tinted red. That means I'll have to start my search in the mountainous regions. Most of the kingdom is cold and snow-covered, but glaciers are still only found up in their highest areas. Is there anything else that indicates what region the author may have been traveling through?"

"Yes, actually. He mentions in an earlier section about an area of the mountains the local tribes called The Dragon Spine. Keep in mind that this was a few hundred years ago, so things have likely changed."

"Like you said, it's a place to start." He gave her a big smile. "Good job, Levy." He turned to the rest of the group. "I'm going to spend the rest of the day with my mother. I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning on a train to Clover Town." He began tracing his planned route along the map. "From there I'll be hoofing it the rest of the way heading northeast through the mountains into Seven and follow along the border between Seven and Bosco. The area is covered by mountains, which should make it relatively safe for travelers looking to avoid slave traders from Bosco." A few of the girls were nodding along with his words. Fiore's border with Seven and Bosco was lined with deep mountains that protected it from most potential land-based hostilities, with Seven's border with Bosco equally covered by a long mountain chain. It would make travel through Seven and into Isenberg fairly easy once Alex had crossed the mountainous region along the border and into Seven proper.

"Looks like we're all in agreement then." Cana broke in with a question.

"Why don't you just take a boat? One of Fiore's northern ports surely visits Iceberg."

"Ah, well, it's faster to travel on foot for me. I can practically fly now after all, so crossing the mountains won't take me nearly as long as it would normally." All the girls had particularly intense looks on their faces at his words, Cana speaking up again.

"You can fly now?! Why didn't you tell us?" Alex was taken aback by the intensity of their looks.

"Uhh, I didn't realize it was important. I flew with Minerva for a little bit when we first met, I just couldn't hold it for very long at high speed. I only just recently got to the point where I could stay in the air for a good amount of time at a decent pace." Cana was still staring at him intensely as Minerva murmured an 'oh, yea, we did' under her breath. Pointing a finger at him, Cana stated her next sentence with absolute conviction.

"When you get back, you're taking me flying." Nods of agreement and exclamations of 'me too!' went around the group as Alex blinked in bemusement as he looked around the table.

"Sure." They collectively gave a satisfied nod while Alex shook his head in good humor. "Anyway, I'm going to head home for now. I already packed everything I'll need, so I'll see you all tomorrow morning before I head out." The group gave him parting waves as he made his way out of the guild hall while they went back to strategizing their own trips throughout Fiore. This was going to be his longest consecutive trip away from home, so he had been spending as much time as he could with his mother, either helping around the café or working with her in Fairy Hills. The café bell chimed as he walked through the door, the two waitresses on duty calling out a welcome by name once they noticed it was him. With a casual wave, he dipped into the back kitchen to lend a hand to his mom.

"Hey Mom, I'm here to help out." She was in the middle of stirring and taste testing a large pot of soup but stopped to greet him with a smile.

"Hi Alex, wash your hands then you can get started with prepping the griddle."

"Yes ma'am." He did as instructed while she put the finishing touches on the soup of the day just in time for the lunch rush to start trickling in, the flat stove grill heating up a light coat of oil in preparation for the inevitable flood of orders. The icebox doors popped themselves open as a conga line of meat products began dancing their way out and stacking themselves neatly to the side. Chicken, steak, and pork arranged themselves neatly along the counter as Mariela popped her head out of the doors.

"We have three waitresses and June working hostess today, so I set out the patio tables as well."

"Alright, I'll be ready."

"Thank you, Alex." He was carefully inspecting all of the cuts of meat for any deficiencies as he responded.

"It's no problem, Mom. I'm likely going to be gone for several months, so I wanted to make sure I spent time with you before I left."

Mariela swooped down and gave him a big squeeze.

"I know. I appreciate you taking the time to keep me company. I'm going to miss you."

"Yea. I'm going to miss you too, Mom." He turned around and returned her hug. "I'll be sure to write. Cana's communication cards can't reach as far as I'll be traveling just yet, so I'm stuck with letters." She stroked his head, running her fingers through his hair.

"My big wizard, off to see the world."

"C'mon, Mom. Now you're making it sappy." She chuckled and gave him a tight squeeze before letting go and returning to her kitchen duties.

"I'll have to hire another cook since you'll be gone for so long this time. It's a shame that hedgewitch cook never decided to join us."

"Yea. She actually sent me a letter a while back, I don't know if I ever told you. Her dad got really sick not long after our trip there, so she couldn't leave since she had to take care of him. A couple of years later, she ended up taking over as their chief and then got stuck with the job even after he had recovered."

"That's incredible." She let out a sigh. "Still, we could use somebody like that. I feel like I'm so busy all of the time that I don't get to spend much time with you or Cana even when you're both around."

"It's okay, Mom. We actually think it's good for you to keep busy the way you do, though you could maybe do with a little bit more free time to vacation or do things you enjoy."

"Yea. Maybe. Either way, I'll have to put out an ad for an assistant cook. Finding one competent enough to meet our standards will be tough." She gave him a wink as he smiled, the smells of cooking food beginning to permeate the kitchen as orders began flowing in. He had just sent the first few plates floating out when Cana, Levy, and Laki burst through the door.

"We're here to help!" Cana stated with a satisfied grin, Erza and Minerva trailing in behind them quietly.

"Oh? Having such cute wait staff will have our sales go through the roof! Let me go grab some uniforms for you girls." The uniforms in question were simply aprons with the name of the café across the front, though they all wore them well.

"Alright, Cana and Laki, we'll have you two help Desiree and Isis on the patio since you're both a bit more energetic. Levy, Erza and Minerva, you three will help Juliet inside. Just follow what they say and everything will be smooth sailing!" She gave them all a reassuring smile as they filed out, hand on her cheek in classic doting mother fashion.

"You have good friends, Alex." Her lips held a soft smile.

"Yea. I do."

"Be careful though, they're all going to grow up into absolute beauties. Make sure to take responsibility and give me lots of grandchildren when they fall in love with you!"

"Moooooooom!" He let out an embarrassed whine while she cackled to herself. "And girls!" She called out to the still eavesdropping young ladies standing outside the doors. "It's all of your responsibility to take care of Alex for me when he's being a busy body!" They shared a laugh at the sudden scrambling noises from the doorway.

"That was mean, Mom."

"But it was true!"

Alex shook his head as his mother took over a portion of the cooking and plating from his magic, slipping seamlessly into the rhythm of the kitchen while humming a cheery tune. If she wasn't his mother, he'd be inclined to think she was Mary Poppins herself.

After all, his mother was Practically Perfect in Every Way.

**A/N:**

Some fuzzy feel good fluff as a sendoff as we enter the first original arc of the story!

Got a little burnt out from busting out content so quickly, so I took a small break. I'll be transitioning back to a Friday release schedule to hopefully avoid this in the future and build up a chapter log if I do any extra writing to try and avoid another break.

**Blaze2121 – **For the "past" canonical events that are currently happening in the story, yes, I have a rule to keep myself from playing Mister Fix-It that requires some sort of basis for interaction to occur. The future canon events are going to be as messed up and convoluted as I can possibly make them since there's typically a lot more detail I can work off of to play around with.

**Slaggedfire** – Yea pretty much. It's less the burden of protecting his friends and more the responsibility Alex feels to do so.

**TigerJacob** – I moved it. Yea, I hadn't even considered her Telekinesis since the focus is always on her Requip abilities, so that was a good save. I have personal head canon that says Gray is from there since it doesn't make much sense for him to be from anywhere else.

Ultear actually would have already escaped from that since she witnessed Gray and Leon being trained by Ur before she sealed Deliora. I would guess that she's likely already been picked up by Hades and is being trained based on where we are in the timeline.

**King Gilgamesh – **Nah, Alex has a pretty hefty head start on boosting his magic pool and combat abilities. He'll be leading the pack power wise for a while, if any of the others _ever _manage to catch up.

**Reader0007 **– It's just a personal quest to try and help a future friend from suffering a little less childhood heartbreak. It gives him a reason to keep pushing and searching, along with being a fun activity for all the kids to bond over.

**rainfallMyth** – I'm really glad you're enjoying it so far! We're just about to enter the first original arc of this story, so I hope you continue to like where I take it.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen: Interlude**

Mariela stood at the edge of the train platform, waving goodbye alongside the girls and Gray as Alex disappeared from sight. She slowly pulled her hand down, both clutching tightly together in front of her as her son went off on another adventure. She knew he would be safe and return to her. He always did, but she never once stopped worrying. Cana broke into her introspective thoughts, pulling one of her hands into her own.

"Momma Mari," Cana smiled up at her. "He's going to be fine. He's strong." She tried to give a convincing smile in return but it appeared she failed as Levy was soon holding on to her free hand, a reassuring smile on her face.

Her smile was gentle as she squeezed both of their hands. "You're right. I know, he'll be fine." She turned to address the rest of the group. "Now then, how about we return to the café. You all can use the upstairs area for all that planning you've been doing for your mission. It'll keep the place lively while he's off hunting down myths and legends." She gave a light chuckle as everyone mirrored her smile. The group unanimously agreed, circling her and chattering away about their hunt and what they had found so far. They kept her apprised of the stories from when Alex had returned last. He typically didn't talk to her about his missions since he seemed to think it would make her worry more, but she always enjoyed hearing the tales of his escapades from his friends who were always overly expressive and dramatically retold the most exciting bits. It was true, she feared for her son, but knowing how capable he was always managed to help convince her he would be fine, at least for a while.

She cast one last look over her shoulder as they made to exit the station, catching sight of a lagging Gray who still stood on the platform staring after her boy.

Gray was still digesting the fact one of his best friends would soon be trekking across his homeland. He knew he wasn't strong enough to travel with him, or patient enough to help with the research, so when he had heard Alex would be setting off to Isenberg, he knew he had found his way to contribute. He would be part of the group traveling to other points of interest within Fiore, but Alex had already visited the most likely regions, the ones most dangerous.

Isenberg was the land where his parents had died, where his second mother had died. Where that cursed monster had rampaged and destroyed his life twice. Yet here he was, allowing his best friend to go off to that same godforsaken land. He shook the memories from his head, turning to the now waiting group as they watched him in concern. He shot them a cocky smirk and strutted their way. He'd double his training. He originally had tried to keep his distance from their group. He couldn't take losing a family for the third time, but things had changed. After he had seen them training, getting stronger together, he knew he couldn't skip out. Not when he stood to lose much more than one or two parents. Now, he needed to be stronger, so nothing could take his new family away from him.

Erza and Minerva were both silent as the more extroverted members laughed and chatted away around them. Erza was still unsure of her place in this little family. They had readily adopted her, knowing nothing about her but that she was alone, just as they had been. It was strange. She had originally only wanted to _be_ alone, to never suffer the pain of losing loved ones ever again, but the group had never once allowed her the serenity of solitude. Now, she couldn't even bring herself to contemplate leaving any longer. Minerva… was the sister she never had. All of them were the siblings she had never had. She had never known a happy family, and the one she had built in the hell that was the Tower of Heaven had been stripped from her after she was forced to survive and be strong for so long, to support her friends who in turn supported her in that damnable existence.

And she was scared.

They had wormed their way into her heart, the heart she was trying so fiercely to protect, to close off. Yet, every time she tried to pull away, one of them was there. Most of the time it was Minerva, but almost as often it had been Cana, or Levy, or Laki there to pick her up and drag her back to their circle while Gray did his absolute best to keep her busy.

Then there was their unofficial leader.

She still, months later, had no idea what to make of Alex. He was always there, always strong, propping up their group on his shoulders, but giving them the tools and direction to walk on their own as well. More often than she cared to admit, she would look at him and see her best friend, Jellal's, silhouette overlapping his. Then he would catch her staring and give her that infuriating smile that always seemed to say 'Everything will be okay. I'm here for you. I've got this, don't worry.'

The rest of their group practically worshipped him, especially Cana. He had left an indelible impression on the girl when he had swooped in and helped her sort out her problems with her dad. Levy appreciated his intelligence and drive, while Laki admired him for his magical ability and dominating presence, though she got along with Gray better than anyone else.

Minerva was similar in her admiration, but it was his power and unshakable demeanor that spoke to her sister. Gray looked up to him as a role model he aspired to reach. Erza, well, she admired him, his strength and will, and set him as an example for how she should grow and act as part of Fairy Tail, but she also couldn't help but wonder what lay beneath the pillar's exterior. Was the interior as solid as the exterior appeared, or were there cracks and flaws waiting for the pressure of its burden to build too great?

Minerva watched on with a smile as Cana and Levy chattered back and forth with Momma Mari. She had never known her mother, but she liked to imagine that whoever her mom was, she was someone like Mariela. She had learned so much since joining Fairy Tail. She glanced over and caught Erza brooding once again, so she reached out and took her hand to pull her from whatever spiraling thoughts she was contemplating. She had made friends, family. Her father had been wrong, so very wrong about so many things. There were many different kinds of strength, and she was discovering new ones every day the longer she stayed with Fairy Tail and her friends.

She would be traveling together with Erza, her sister. The groups had already been decided for those who would be visiting the danger zones. She would be with Erza, while Laki would travel with Gray. Cana was already B rank, so she was allowed to travel on her own, but had already said she would leave the majority of the exploration to the pairs that needed the experience. Of all the rest in the group, with the exception of Erza, she was closest to Cana. The two had bonded over discussions of their magic.

Cana utilized her card magic in a variety of ways. Her forte was the versatility her cards gave her and the combinations she could derive and combine into greater, more intricate attacks. She had been a fountain of ideas when Minerva had mentioned her own magic, and how she was looking to expand her abilities. It helped that they held a shared interest in Alex, both receiving similar but very different help with their patriarchal problems.

Her father had raised her to be strong, but he had only wanted her to be his version of strength. Alex had proven that her father's strength was not the only kind, then kept proving it every single day since he had brought her to Magnolia. He was strong, but so was his mother, so was Cana, so was Levy, and Erza, and Laki, and Gray, and everyone else in Fairy Tail. Many of them weren't powerful, but they all had different characteristics that made them strong, and so she planned to learn. She would learn how to be strong from everyone, and when she next saw her father, she would show him what true strength looked like, not the facsimile of power he clung to and demanded from members of Sabretooth.

Makarov stared out from the top of Fairy Tail's hill, watching the morning train as it set off carrying one of his brightest stars. Only once it had vanished beyond a hill did he return to his office to stare down at the report on his desk. It had been years since _his_ name had popped up anywhere in the reports that came through the magic council's doors. He would have gone to investigate the report himself had he not held as many responsibilities as he did. That fact that _his_ name was mentioned in the same report as the Elixir his children were searching for could not be mere coincidence.

Makarov glared at the paper as if willing it and everything related to its contents to burst into flames. Mavis may have been gone, but those she left behind had not forgotten her. _He_ had not forgotten her, or the stories his father had told him as a child. Fairy Tail's greatest secret was not something so easily dismissed from the annals of time.

* * *

Alex stopped his trek at the top of a hill. The afternoon sun was making its way down towards the horizon as he glanced to the sky. He had left Clover Town a couple hours ago, using his magic to expedite the process of leaving by flying over its surrounding lake in order to save time on his journey. He murmured to himself while hiking his bag higher up his back. The snowcapped mountains were towering in the distance, his eyes scanning along the crests and valleys between peaks as he hunted for one in particular.

"The pass should be… there!" His vision paused on a particularly deep trough between two of the nearer peaks. He could stick to the countryside, simply flying over certain areas, but he was doing his best to avoid making a scene or getting into any unnecessary brawls with creatures or monsters, and was therefore sticking to the merchant's road. There had been a few caravans preparing to leave out of the small ferry villages that associated with Clover Town, the small establishments serving as waypoints for goods traveling across the water to and from the main city. He had the option of joining one of the groups heading in the direction of Seven as he could have been hired on to protect them as they traveled, but had ultimately chosen to set his own pace. The caravans moved at a ponderously slow pace, and Alex had a deadline to keep.

With a flex of his mana, Alex was soon bouncing up and down the hills, keeping himself below the tops of the trees as he trampolined across the land. The further from established civilization and patrolled routes he got, the more likely it would be he would encounter trouble as the Rune Knights could only maintain so much of the established trading routes. Particularly up in the mountains, he'd likely run into mountain Vulcans with some regularity along with other creatures looking to prey on passing caravans or lone travelers. He took a risk, one last bounce atop the next hill, higher than the trees so he could glance back and look over Fiore and the distance he had traveled. He would be leaving his home behind for the first time since arriving on this world, and so he took an extra few moments to engrave the view into his mind's eye. His future would be filled with cold hard days of travel, and this memory would help sustain him as he kept pushing forward to his goal.

**A/N:**

A shorter chapter today as we do some traveling and transitioning. The next few chapters will likely have a spread of different points of view as the group splits up to have their own little journeys, though Alex will still have his time in the spotlight as he begins his search.

**Okushi** – I actually looked into Juvia. I don't have any sort of historical canon reference before she joins Phantom Lord as a teenager that would allow me to write a meeting scene, so that's a bust for now.

**TigerJacob** – Meredy will be safe, but with what I did to Minerva I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Yukino.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Alex sat bundled in heavy clothing, a gift from his mother, a heavy down feather jacket, in particular keeping him warm during the frigid mountain nights. He had been sticking to mountain trails and roads in his journey across Seven, and because of this had been foregoing a campfire at night, as up on the mountainsides his position would be visible for miles. Seven's southern mountain range also functioned as their border with Bosco, so this was especially prescient to avoid the more daring and enterprising slavers who were willing to brave the hardships that came with traveling mountainous terrain.

The moon this night was close to full and gave off more than enough light for Alex to attempt to read by. It was why he found himself propped up against a tree, an in-depth manual on the deconstruction of Requip magic and how it functions resting on his knees. It was a book of pure magical theory, much of which Alex knew for a fact was incorrect with his knowledge of how his magic interacted with the world, but was still combing through in an attempt to ferret out the nuggets of clues he needed to build a pocket dimension of his own.

Regardless, what was supposedly a basic magic that any wizard could learn, Alex had been trying for months and had yet to establish any progress in mastering the ability. He had even brought it up to Master Makarov after the first month of failures. The fact he watched Erza manage it in a few days only incensed him, so he finally broke down and asked the master for advice.

"Sit m'boy. Go through the process one more time. Let me get a look at what you're doing." Alex did as instructed, dropping cross-legged into a seat on the floor and closed his eyes. Doing as the book indicated, he first pulled on his pool of internal power. His personal reserves. A tendril of pure ethernano extended out as he coaxed it from the metaphysical representation of power within him, flowing from his stomach up to his shoulder, and then down his arm until he had a line of mana linked to his source hovering just beneath the surface of his palm.

Ethernano was a bizarre energy, and wizards' abilities to use and influence the power was just as strange. It treated a wizard's body as a container to be filled, yet could be flexed and worked as if it was a muscle, trained to increase in size and power. His own mental depiction of how his mana functioned was a fairly standard image, though there were many alternative interpretations that worked just as well for other mages.

Normally, when utilizing his magic, Alex simply opened the natural dam holding back his power and allowed it to flood out of his concentrated well in certain amounts to fuel whatever manifestation of his innate magic he was picturing. For his inborn magical abilities, he had no need to specify how the fuel for his powers should react and interact with his desires, which was not the case for establishing a Requip space. The instructions stated he was to weave his ethernano into the fabric of space itself to open a pocket dimension anchored to a point on his body. Most of the heavy lifting was done by imagination and the mysterious properties of the energy itself, but for whatever reason, once Alex began the process of creating the space, it inevitably, invariably failed. This exact process played out before Makarov's eyes, Alex's pure energy doing as instructed, but simply dissipating instead of creating the spatial pocket. He blinked with a blank look for a moment as surprise stumped him.

"Honestly, m'boy. I have no idea why you haven't succeeded yet. That was a perfect representation of the process." Alex simply stared down at his hand in silent frustration. Makarov placed an elbow on his thigh and propped up his chin on a fist as he thought over what he had just seen. "Do it once more for me." Alex repeated the process, the result identical as Makarov hummed in thought.

"The only thing I can think of, it may be your innate abilities interfering with the formation. It's the only explanation that I can imagine since your abilities are a more advanced spatial manipulation than anything Requip allows for. Your subconscious mind may simply be rejecting this as an option and thus self-sabotaging your attempts."

"So… I _can't_ use Requip?"

Makarov shrugged.

"Appears so, but with your magic, it's likely there is an alternative option available for you. I'd go as far as to wager this will be the case for any other spatially oriented magic. Take little Minerva for instance. Her magic is a spatial domain, but you already have a similar ability to that, don't you?" Alex nodded in understanding.

"I see. So, I'll just have to build my own version from scratch."

"So it seems, brat."

The conversation is what had led to his current situation. He had been learning and attempting to build a pocket dimension utilizing his own magical abilities for months. He began by saturating a single rectangular plane of spatial fabric. Alex gently cut out his desired pattern with his ethernano, separating it from the overall weave, the universe automatically correcting the imperfection moments later. Alex continued, pulling individual strings from the fabric within arm's length until he held a bundle of the material in one hand.

This was a vastly different use of his abilities, one he had never really taken the time to contemplate, but mentally noted that he needed to invest some training into researching different utilities available with his magic. Alex stared at the bundle of silvery-white shimmering strings carefully grasped within his hand, a similar shimmer coating his palm to allow for his body to interact with the material. With careful and precise applications of his magic, he cut incisions into the saturated rectangle, removing sections and mentally folding it into the shape of a box. He then took the individual strands and began weaving them into the edges as if he was sewing them together with the strings as thread.

Upon completion, he held a box the size of his palm. Grasping one last string, he imbued it with intent and connected it to one face of the box, anchoring it to the tip of his middle finger. He let out a breath as he released his magic, the box and its connecting string fading from the visual spectrum as his magic departed. Channeling a bit of his mana into the string, he pushed his fingers out, the tips dipping into an invisible object. A relieved smile graced his face which soon morphed into chuckling as he relaxed.

"Finally. I finally fucking succeeded." He murmured to himself. The box itself was tiny in comparison to what a devoted Requip mage could accomplish, but now that he had a foundational pocket anchored to his body, he could simply begin adding in additional spatial fabric whenever he needed more space and the pocket itself would incorporate the additional substance into its structure similar to how the universe it was constructed from would mend any imperfections or inconsistencies.

He grabbed a pebble from the ground next to him, pushing mana into his construct to access it, then tossed the pebble inside. He then withdrew his mana, causing the pocket to fade. A second passed, then another. Just as Alex was about to relax, the sound reminiscent of fabric gradually ripping could be heard.

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" He immediately attempted to push his power back into the cube, but it was far too late. He watched as his first stable success splintered, ripping apart at the seams. The fabric and strings dissipated, immediately reincorporated into the universal weave while the pebble fell back to the ground from whence it came. Alex sighed, leaning back and knocking his head gently against the tree trunk.

"Fuck."

He mentally reviewed the process he had gone through, his eyes closed as he recreated the steps in his mind, his fingers dancing out in front of him and interacting with his imaginary project. He murmured to himself as the process played out in his mind's eye.

"The fabric was fine. The pattern and box itself were sufficient, the edges matched perfectly this time… it must have been the threads." His hands dropped as his eyes opened, hand going to his chin in thought. "I'll have to make a stop by a tailor's shop and have them show me their strongest seam weave. My basic stitching must not be strong enough to support anything more than the construct itself."

With a course of action in mind, Alex glanced up at the moon above him. With this new development, his nights from this point on would have to be spent developing his mental defenses. Levy had requisitioned a copy of a basic defensive magic called Mental Shield from Eon's magic library. The ability's introductory description stated it was an active magic which provided protection against any kind of magically afflicted mental states.

It wasn't a perfect defense by any means, since it would only counter things like Charm magic, Mind Control, or other similar magic types, and did not protect from certain magics such as Evergreen's Stone Eyes, but defense against mental attacks and influence was more than enough for Alex to choose to invest time in mastering it. He had already spent some time in achieving proper activation but was still working on maintaining an activated state with distractions. He had a long way to go yet to have the shields up during combat, but further practice could wait for the next day's travel. He needed to get some proper rest in order to maintain awareness of his surroundings as he traveled.

Alex stretched out his domain as far as he could, pushing the distance further and further until he had encompassed several full-length American football fields worth of area around him. Once he finished confirming he was safe, Alex bounced himself up into the boughs of the tree above him, settling into its limbs to get some sleep.

* * *

Minerva was panting with exertion. She and Erza had been so careful, approaching the depths of the mountains cautiously in order to avoid the exact situation they found themselves in. The area had long been rumored to be home to a hive of massive insects which they had discovered the hard way was less rumor and more fact after Erza had indiscriminately crushed one of the hive's lone worker drones on a previous mountainside. She had thought nothing of it at the time, but now the pair were fighting tooth and nail to escape the swarm pursuing them.

Had Levy been there, she would have warned them against agitating the bugs, the pheromones released from the slain insect permeating the pair to mark them as enemies. Minerva tapped into her domain, swapping her location with another of the insects, causing her target to take the brunt of four other attacks in her previous position. Tapping into her magic again, she swapped positions with an insect about to land a hit to Erza's unguarded rear.

"The lake!" She gasped out, incinerating an insect as Erza cut another down. She grabbed a glaring, sweaty Erza by the back of her armor and whisked them away to the furthest edge of her Territory. "In the center of the valley! We can swim and escape!" Erza flicked insect fluids and body matter off of her sword before returning it to its sheath and dropping it, the weapon returning to her Requip space as it fell through the air. Grabbing Minerva's hand, she turned and began running downhill at full speed while using the tree trunks as leverage to regulate their descent, bouncing between the towering giants as quickly as possible as the horde of insects renewed their pursuit, thundering their way down the slopes.

The pair hit the rocky beach at a sprint, Erza's armor vanishing into her pocket dimension as their feet splashed into the shallows. The giant ants were hot on their heels, a wave of the creatures scuttling across the rocks, mere yards behind them as the water reached their knees forcing the two girls to fully dive forward, the bottom falling away quickly beneath them. When they both resurfaced further out into the water, they turned to look back at their pursuers, the ants having stopped in the shallows, most stamping about and waving on their hind legs threateningly as the girls continued to tread water.

"Come on, Minerva." Erza stated, making motions to turn and swim towards a further shore. Minerva suddenly shrieked, vanishing and reappearing further away.

"There's something below us!" She shouted, immediately bursting into a sprint as she swam away. Erza felt something brush beneath her feet moments later, a chill not caused by the temperature of the water shooting up her spine as she stiffened. Mimicking her sister, she immediately began swimming, small bursts of telekinesis against the floor of the lake helping to push her along. The pair stumbled out of the lake at the same time, collapsing onto the pebbled shore just as the creature that had been lurking below burst from the water at the far shore.

Nine heads rose from the water, striking down into the mass of insects where they devoured groups of the creatures indiscriminately. The massive creature slowly pulled itself from the water, its heads never ceasing their feast as the ants first attempted to swarm their new attacker, but soon after began to flee as the hydra indiscriminately crushed and consumed their numbers. A few minutes later, the girls watched, huddled together with wide eyes as three of the heads let out resounding roars in concert, the other six heads still chewing their bounty as the body slowly began sinking back beneath the surface of the water. Almost as quickly as it had appeared, the massive magical monster vanished below once more, the area returning to stillness and silence. Minerva turned to Erza, both holding onto each other as they shivered from both nerves and the cold.

"Rule number eighteen for adventuring: Never swim in unknown water." Erza nodded in agreement.

"Rule number nineteen for adventuring: Never kill random giant bugs unless already under attack." It was Minerva's turn to nod, though it quickly turned to giggles as the adrenaline from combat and flight drained from her system. Erza gave her a strange look, though soon hesitantly joined in, her small chuckles soon blossoming into true laughter as Minerva stared at her with wide eyes, the pair alternatingly bursting into giggles as they held each other, sharing warmth.

It was a few minutes of laughter and shivering until Minerva finally separated from Erza, pulling her companion to her feet as they both continued to drip, sharing smiles all the while.

"Let's get a fire going so we can dry off and get warm." Erza gave a nod and the pair moved into the trees to find fuel. "I can't wait to tell Alex about this. He's going to be so jealous that we got to see a hydra." Erza returned Minerva's smile at the thought.

"Yea. He always gets overly excited when he talks about the magical creatures he spots on his trips."

"He always carries an image lacrima just so he can take pictures. He's pretty much completely covered the board behind the bar at this point."

"I can see why. I wish I had been able to take a picture of that hydra to show everyone. It might be good to start packing one. I bet we could use it for a lot of other things as well, like collecting evidence."

"Ohhh, that's a good idea, Erza." The pair dumped their piles of sticks together and Minerva immediately flexed her Territory to set it alight, the girls letting out a shared sigh of relief as comfortable warmth began seeping back into their bodies.

"I wonder if Gray and Laki are having as much excitement as we are hunting for more of these fountains?" Minerva and Erza exchanged a look of mutual consideration.

"Nah."

"Yea. I doubt it."

They both burst into giggles.

* * *

Gray was currently swearing under his breath as he forced his way through more mud and muck. Laki was humming along cheerfully behind him as the low hanging vines and limbs of trees carried her over the swamp mire below. Finally, Gray couldn't take it any longer and let out a scream of frustration.

"I can't take it anymore! Ice-Make: Road!" His magic burst out, freezing the mire in front of him for as far as his eyes could see. Unfortunately, that included his immediate surrounding area as well, discovering it the hard way as he went to lift his feet from the muck only to find himself frozen in place. He let out another yell of frustration as he ineffectually thrashed in placed, Laki nearly tumbling from her perch above him as she clutched her stomach in hysterical laughter.

"Y-you…" Laki attempted, only to burst into laughter again as Gray glared up at her.

"Ice Make: Hammer!" A giant ice construct came slamming down next to him, fracturing the ice and mud, freeing his feet. He shot another glare up at his cackling companion before stomping forward along his new path. He'd get his payback later, once they weren't surrounded by her own element.

* * *

Cana had two of her card lady manifestations out, one of which was stirring and portioning out dough, the other plating food as orders were finished. Cana herself was carefully monitoring the stovetop and Mariela was manning the grill. They were putting together the last orders of the day, Levy running completed plates out to the waitresses.

"Thank you, dears. You've been an incredible help."

"It's no problem, Mom. It's the least we can do."

Mariela gave Cana a big smile at her unintentional name.

"Yea, Momma Mari," Levy chimed in as she grabbed a pair of plates from the counter, distracting the pair from Cana's slip. "You should really hire someone else to give you a hand. We can manage with the extra hands, but having an actual professional to help you would be incredible." She slipped out and back in quickly after depositing the plates on the appropriately marked tray.

Mariela wiped her palms on her apron as she formally finished turning off the grill for the day.

"I actually have an interview scheduled for this evening with a young woman who says she used to do the cooking for her family's inn in the capitol. If she's telling the truth about the name of the inn, she'll be a great addition to our kitchen." Both girls gave matching sounds of interest.

""Ooooooooooooh!""

"Can we meet her?" Cana asked.

"I don't see why not. She'll have to get used to all of you kids running around and stopping by, so letting her know ahead of time should be fine as long as we both decide she would be a good fit here."

"Great!" Cana bounced on her toes in excitement. The group soon got to work cleaning and wiping down the kitchen, Cana's card girls lending their hands after depositing the completed dough in the large refrigerator. Once the remaining customers had finished their meals and vacated their tables, and the waitstaff had finished their own cleaning, the three sat around a table as they waited for the applicant to show up. Cana and Levy were both happily snacking on bowls of ice cream, one of the more recent desserts that Alex had come up with, having put the finishing touches on successfully creating the treat a few days before he left for his mission. The door's bell tinkled as it swung open, a timid voice calling out to the group who turned to look at the newcomer.

"H-hello?"

Mariela turned on her megawatt smile, standing to introduce herself and usher the young woman to a seat at their table.

"Hi, hi! You must be Janelle! Please, come in and have a seat!"

"Ah! Um, yes. Thank you."

The young woman looked to be a few years younger than Mariela. Her blonde hair was long and straight, very practically tied up in a ponytail to keep it away from her face or from falling over her front. Blue eyes shyly glanced around the table. She wasn't thin by any means, but the combination of her being well fed through her profession mixed with the physical exertion of constantly being on her feet for that same work had left her with a healthy figure. Cana's eyes traced over the woman's white shawl which hung around her neck and over her arms, draping down to a yellow dress followed by a pair of practical black shoes. Mariela spoke up, breaking her from her inspection of the woman.

"So, Janelle, some brief introductions. I'm Mariela, and these two are Cana and Levy," she pointed at each girl in turn. "They're two wizards from Fairy Tail and part of my little family." She gave them a sweet smile which they both returned. "I wanted to go ahead and let you know that should you end up working here that these two, along with five others will likely be pretty common faces around here. The other five are currently out on missions though, so you won't have the opportunity to meet them just yet."

"S-so many…" She looked between the girls with widened eyes, a look of shock at the thought of seven children. Mariela let out a giggle at her assumption.

"No, no. They aren't all mine. I only have one of my own who you likely won't meet for some time," her expression fell slightly prompting Levy to reach over and give her hand a squeeze, receiving a smile in return. "But the others all live in Fairy Hills with me. They've practically become my children at this point." She gave the girls a fond smile.

"Oh! I see."

"So, with introductions out of the way, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

"Well," she took a moment to think. "Well, my family runs the inn Dragon's Dream in Crocus. I've been helping my ma in the kitchens since I was a girl. Cooking is pretty much all I know." Mariela nodded along with an encouraging smile while Cana and Levy listened as they finished off their ice cream.

"If your family runs the inn, what brings you out to Magnolia looking for work?"

Janelle fidgeted slightly, her fingers clutching at the fabric of her dress as she murmured her response just loud enough for the table to hear.

"My family kicked me out. Told me they wanted me to see the world and be on my own for a while." Mariela hid her smile at the woman's pouting behind a hand.

"I see. Well, I'm glad you decided to apply to join us here. I've heard great things about your family's inn. The only thing I'll need to confirm is that your ability in the kitchen matches our standards. As long as you gain the approval of our little group, you'll have the job if you want it." She shot the girls a quick wink.

"O-of course!" Janelle immediately stood, a look of excitement on her face. "Shall I get started?"

"Certainly. Let me show you where everything is, then I'll leave you to it." The pair walked off leaving Cana and Levy to discuss.

"She's awfully timid for a chef, don't you think Levy?" Cana stared after the woman. Levy hummed in thought.

"Maybe, but we're so used to Momma Mari who isn't afraid to get bossy if she needs to." Cana gave an affirmative hum of agreement, the pair glancing up as Mariela popped back out of the kitchen, waiting for a moment at the doors before gesturing the girls to join her. The three piled together and peered through a crack between the doors to watch as Janelle began her work.

There almost seemed to be a palpable shift in the air as she finished tying the apron to her front. The timid, shy woman was instantly replaced by a focused, stern face. The three watched as their applicant began her dance throughout the kitchen. It started slow with her swooping to gather ingredients followed by tools, bowls, pots and pans, and cutlery.

Once the stage was set, the dance truly began, the three watched on in fascination as she moved, stirring, preparing, sizzling, pirouette, slicing, pouring, tasting, spin, grinding, adding, flipping, her flow through the kitchen didn't break once until the performance was over, leaving the three scrambling for their seats, exchanging impressed glances the entire time as three plates of seared sliced beef topped with grilled onions and mushrooms and a light sauce, grilled green beans, and mashed potatoes with gravy were placed before them.

"Please, enjoy." Janelle gave them a nervous smile as she took a step back.

The three each took a bite simultaneously, each pausing as the first bite of steak melted across their tongues. The two girls both shared wide-eyed glances before immediately digging in while Mariela gingerly set down her fork to look over at a worried Janelle.

"I-is everything okay?"

Mariela took a moment to critically look over the woman in front of her causing her to fidget in place.

"You're hired." She then continued her meal, finishing it only shortly after the girls as Janelle slumped in relief. Once they had all finished, the girls continued staring at her as if they had seen a particularly juicy prey that had wandered into their web while Mariela simply continued to give her a pleasant smile.

"If you're still interested, you can begin tomorrow. We open at dawn, though I'm typically working in the kitchen about an hour before then. As long as you show up with enough time to prepare before the morning rush I don't mind when you decide to arrive."

"Yes!" She gave a fist pump before quickly remembering her audience. "I mean, yes, I accept! Thank you!"

"Of course. Thank you for a delicious meal. I understand you just arrived in town; do you have a place to stay yet?" She shook her head in denial.

"In that case, the space above the café is available for rent. If you like, you can go up and look it over. If you decide you like it, the rent is a hundred thousand jewels a month. Your salary will be seven hundred thousand jewels a month, per the posting you responded to." Janelle nodded in understanding as she made her way to the stairs.

Mariela returned her attention to the girls still sitting quietly at the table.

"So? What do the two of you think?"

Cana spoke up first, a strange glint in her eyes as she watched the woman ascend the stairs.

"Don't let her escape." Mariela blinked and turned her attention to Levy who was sagely nodding in agreement.

"She's too valuable to allow out into the wild."

"Girls, she's not a pet."

"Of course, she isn't, Momma Mari. She's our new food slave." Mariela rolled her eyes with a smile. Alex's humor was rubbing off on them. She glanced back up as Janelle returned to the group.

"It's perfect. I'll take it!" Mariela clapped her hands together in happiness.

"Excellent. We'll get everything sorted out tomorrow, but you can go ahead and move anything you brought with you in and sleep here tonight."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Ah, ah, ah! None of that. I may be your boss, but we're a family now. Plus, I'm not much older than you. You can call me Mariela or Mari."

"Y-yes, Mariela." Momma Mari gave a nod of satisfaction.

"Good, now, we'll take care of the dishes then get out of your hair for the evening." She pulled a key from her pocket. "This is the spare key for the building. Please make sure to lock up after we leave and you're settled in."

"Yes, of course." Janelle nodded with wide eyes as the key was placed in her open palm. Mariela gave her one last smile, the girls grabbing the dishes from the table and heading into the kitchen to do the cleaning, Mariela trailing behind them.

**A/N:**

Super long chapter this time. Going to be aiming for around 4k words a chapter since I've pulled my RWBY fic for now, but this one ran even longer than that at 4.7k

**AnimeA55Kicker** – It hurt me to write, so I feel that.

**TheRangerBoy** – You're right, she did, but I have no clue where that orphanage is. I feel like if it had been in Oak Town, she would have been picked up by a guild much sooner since she was so obviously magically talented with rain clouds constantly following her around. That may just be me overthinking a plot hole though. Honestly, if someone were to give me a persuasive argument for logically finding and including her in the story, I wouldn't even really fight it to write her in since it's irritating me how little backstory she has in conjunction with what seems like a pretty big oversight in her magical nature.

**Guest-Questioner** – It's looking like Yukino isn't going to be making an appearance until the grand magic games. Once I looked over the timeline again, she's MUCH younger than our current main cast. She's somewhere around 3 years old right now, with no indication on where she lived before showing up in canon at 18. I'll figure out something for how to get her involved in the story eventually. She's one of my favorite characters so I definitely won't be neglecting her.

**TigerJacob** – Good points. No spoilers but I've got some ideas rattling around for how to get her involved. I do like what you mentioned about her motivations and Sabertooth though. That makes sense with her history.

**Mdhunter111** – I actually purposefully leave the character appearances a bit vague with only some basic guideline descriptions. You're free to imagine his appearance as whatever you want him to look like that way. He'll probably eventually at least learn hand-to-hand fighting as a kind of last line of defense. I don't give out relationship spoilers, so you'll just have to keep reading to find out ;)


	17. Chapter 16

Discord: discord.gg/CGen5YA

**Chapter Sixteen**

Alex sat in his chosen corner table of the inn's ground floor. This was his first stop in Isenberg, having arrived early in the afternoon the day before. The timing worked out well since he was able to immediately approach the local mission board for the area's requests and pick up a few basic handyman requests and a construction job for the village itself. Gray's advice was priceless, the initially wary looks immediately softening once he expressed a genuine desire to lend his assistance around town. Any dissenters or comments regarding his age were quickly silenced as he went to work, repairs being finished in moments and, later, building materials floating into position, the construction work rapidly finding itself ahead of schedule and much closer to completion by the end of the day.

The men he had worked alongside had been practically tripping over themselves to buy his meals in gratitude, which he ultimately ended up awkwardly accepting in order to keep from being rude. Once he finished his breakfast, he slipped back out to the board, a notice regarding a magical beast rampaging through the area destroying important supply and trading caravans having caught his attention the day before. There were a few other notices with warnings regarding other local nasty beasties, but as long as none of the villagers antagonized or encroached on those creature's domains, they wouldn't become a problem.

Alex tore the notice down, waving to the chief as he passed by with the paper in hand to show he had taken it and was headed out for the day. According to the paper, the oversized boar made its home in the local forest, so it was only a quick trip down the road to enter into the tree line. Due to the harsh nature of much of Isenberg, hunting and fishing were the predominant staples of the people, the climate typically too harsh to promote agriculture, so it was doubly important for this overly aggressive creature to be dealt with to reopen not only the lines of trade, but the forest itself, the game that made the forest their home serving as a major source of food.

Alex steadily made his way deeper into the trees, keeping his domain spread as far as he could manage to hopefully either find a clue to the beast's location, or if it was sensitive enough to feel his magic, provoke it into attacking. Apparently broadcasting his location like a magical beacon was the correct choice, the beast barreling into his active domain like a freight train, what would have been a blur to a civilian's eyes was slowed to a more manageable pace in Alex's magically enhanced state.

Alex waited until the beast was within visual range before solidifying a cube of space around it, the materialized fabric stretching with the force of its charge before finally halting it in midair for a brief moment, the elasticity flinging it backwards in the next instant where it impacted the spatial plane on the opposite end, the effect repeating itself several times until Alex forced the fabric to be static.

"That worked surprisingly well…" Alex muttered as he surveyed the spatial box containing the confused and reeling animal. "This should work for containment, at least for weaker enemies." He nodded in satisfaction. He had been looking to expand his nonlethal capabilities, and a spatial prison tested against a magical beast's strength was perfect for his needs. He wouldn't always have the liberty to annihilate his opponents, so expanding his repertoire was important. He had initially tested some close-form spatial stasis with Gray, but it appeared a wizard's personal ethernano reserves and their passively emitted excess interfered with foreign abilities that attempted to linger around the body.

It was rather counterintuitive as the body could still be controlled mentally or be affected by other less direct magical attacks. After giving it some additional thought, Alex remembered similar instances that occurred throughout canon that seemed to corroborate his observed theory. Shelly, one of Lyon's followers, used puppeteer magic that allowed control of objects and spirits, but could not affect a wizard. Perhaps it was something else as well that had to do with life? Spirits technically weren't alive, so that would hypothetically make sense. Alex shook his head to clear his thoughts before they spiraled further out of control. Anything dealing with Life or Living Magic was a dangerous topic and better left alone in his mind.

He turned his attention back to the snorting and stamping beast currently testing his barriers for weaknesses.

"Alright you, we need to have a chat."

The massive boar creature looked down on him for a second before dismissing Alex with a derisive snort and returned to shoving its tusks into the walls of its prison. Alex grinned maliciously.

"That's fine too. The village will be able to enjoy magical beast meat for a while with how large you are."

It turned and presented its rear in Alex's direction, a massive fart projecting in his direction, though it was stopped by the spatial wall of the cage.

"Yea. I hope you enjoy the smell of your own fart. You really are pretty stupid, aren't you? Momma sabre was way more intelligent than you." His words foreshadowed the boar's next reaction, its nose getting a large whiff of its own flatulence, going still for a moment, then gagging the next, its pawing and poking at its prison suddenly becoming much more frantic, going as far as to rub its snout against the dirt of the ground beneath it to attempt to cleanse the smell when it began to get truly desperate. Alex had fallen onto his ass laughing hysterically as the beast thrashed around in disgust.

"Serves you right." He finally choked out between breaths. There was fire and fury in the creature's eyes as it looked down at its captor. Alex let out a sigh of relief when he managed to calm down. The boar maintained his arrogant look, its eyes maintaining its pride as it stared down at Alex.

"You're obviously not willing to listen, and you're far too territorial and aggressive to be allowed to live otherwise. It's unfortunate." He let out a different sigh this time now that he had sobered up, a bit of melancholy leaking into it. He made it quick and painless, an overcharged String Theory slicing through its neck and cleanly decapitating the creature.

With the beast's death, its natural magical resistance ceased as well, allowing Alex to lift the massive corpse with his magic in order to float it along behind him. The village would be able to eat very well for a few days off of its body, and while normally larger boar meat was not very good, over the years of working with his mother, Alex had discovered that no matter what animal it might have come from, if it was magical beast meat, it was, without fail, delicious.

Alex was greeted with excitement at the gate entrance, the guards having spotted him some ways off, the massive floating corpse giving away his position long before he actually came into sight. He left the body with the hunters, the resident butcher organizing a few of them to start skinning and dismembering the creature while he made his way to the chief's home.

"Hey, Boss." He stated with a wave, the middle-aged man looking up from his carving work. "Took care of the boar. The roads should be clear and the forest open for hunting again."

"Thanks, lad. We might have been in a bit of a tough spot in a few days if ye hadn't come by." He tossed a pouch of raw golden nuggets out, Alex swiping it from the air. "Now, why don't ye give me the rundown for the real reason ye stopped in?" Alex glanced between the bag in his hand, significantly heavier than it should have been based on the reward stated on the flier and back up at the chief who simply cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at him. Alex tossed the bag up and had it land within his backpack.

"I'm hunting a local legend. It's supposedly located in the Dragon Spine mountain range, but I'm very unfamiliar with Isenberg as you've no doubt noticed."

"Aye, we noticed, though ye stick to our basic customs well enough fer a foreigner."

"Thanks, I'll let my friend know he did an acceptable job teaching me."

"Another brat like ye, eh? Well, whatever. The Dragon Spine is in the northeast of Isenberg. It bridges the border with Pergrande. That's pretty much all I can tell ye though. I've lived in this area me whole life, same with everybody else, so we won't know anythin' about any legends from out that way." His hands had kept moving, slowly shaving away curls of wood and chips as the shape of his creation began to take shape.

"No, that was already very helpful. Thank you."

"Ye earned it, lad. The extra gold in that bag should come in handy when ye need to trade with other tribes or in the towns. It's a bonus for taking the time to help out around the village as much as ye did."

"Ah, thank you again, then."

"No worries, lad. We find plenty of the stuff in these foothills. Do me a favor and keep it a secret, though. Don't want a bunch of greedy foreigners coming in to dig up our home."

"You have my word."

The chief grunted in acknowledgment, Alex giving him a respectful nod and a wave as he turned and left. It was only midafternoon, so he had more than enough light to begin his trip further east. His next stop would be one of Isenberg's remaining larger towns. Deliora had really put the hurt on the larger bastions of civilization in this country. Now that he was no longer traveling along the border of Bosco, he could afford to be a bit freer with his magical abilities, which was fortunate, as it would rapidly speed up his travel time.

Alex had already spent a month on the road to make it to Isenberg, so he was a bit relieved that he would be able to increase his pace greatly while moving through Isenberg proper. What would normally have been a week long journey on foot was shortened to three days of trampolined flight through the skies as he circumvented the craggy hills and icy terrain that made up much of Iceberg's landscape.

Isenberg was a bit of an anomaly in regards to its climate. It was longitudinally lower than much of the Pergrande Kingdom, yet was much colder and barren than most of the Kingdom's northern reaches. Part of the reason for this was the land's average altitude, as it was much higher than the majority of the continent. The other primary factors were the wind and oceanic current that ran North to South along the coast of the western continent. A branch of the cold northern waters split off to be captured by Isenberg's northern sea, both the wind and water funneling their lower temperatures down into the country between mountain ranges.

Isenberg, despite its harsh climate, was a beautiful country, and Alex took a few extra minutes occasionally taking snapshots of the various mountain ranges and scenery as he sailed high over the land. His unique abilities allowed him to see and record the world from locations others wouldn't even begin to consider, and he was looking forward to sharing the moments with his friends once he returned home.

It was evening when Alex dropped down a short distance from the stone walls of the town of Denuse. From what he had learned from the innkeeper at the village, much of the remaining population of Brago and Gray's hometown of Isvan had fled here as refugees, causing a massive expansion. He would definitely be able to find a tailor in this city, and perhaps more than just rumor and hearsay regarding the Dragon Spine.

The gates were open when he walked through, the guards giving everyone coming and going cursory glances, though it appeared traffic was free to enter and exit at will so long as it was orderly. Alex kept his eyes peeled as he officially entered Denuse. Despite the massive growth in the size of the city to accommodate the influx of refugees, Alex knew that it was likely that many fell through the cracks. There was only so much a populace could do without supporting infrastructure already in place after all.

His diligence paid off as he spotted a few children peeking from a small alley out into the crowds of people as they passed by going about their business. Alex altered his direction, making a beeline straight for them, one of the older kids immediately spotting him, nudging the others deeper into the shadows to begin dispersing, though Alex had long since dropped a spatial wall behind them to keep them from retreating.

"Yo, squirts." The smaller kids were pressing back against the spatial fabric wall with wide eyes, while the older pair stood in front of them.

"Who you calling squirt, midget!?"

"You." He looked around at the five kids with a bored stare. "And your friends." The boy made to open his mouth again but Alex cut him off. "I have a silver piece for whichever one of you can show me around the city. I need an average inn, food supplies, and to talk to someone who knows a lot about old stories." The kids exchanged a series of glances between them before one of the younger kids in the back quietly spoke up.

"I know 'bout all that." He murmured, slightly raising his hand. The two older boys gave him a glare that said 'shut up', but the damage had already been done. Alex leaned forward a bit as he addressed the boy directly.

"Excellent. My name is Alex, what's yours?"

"Michael."

"Nice to meet you. Lead the way, the rest of you can tag along if you want." Alex gave a gesture and Michael gave a couple of furtive glances at the older boys who maintained wary eyes on Alex. He scurried past the pair and took off down the street at a brisk pace, Alex following along casually behind. They had only gone a few steps when the sounds of footsteps followed along behind them.

"Let's start with the inn. You can show me the market after I book a room. I can pick up supplies tomorrow if it's closed." The younger boy nodded his head and changed direction slightly. It was only a few minutes of walking before the group stopped in front of The Downy Crake.

"This a good inn… sir. The mistress real nice too."

"Perfect. Come on then. I can't have my guides scurrying off before they get paid." Alex pushed open the doors as the group hesitantly followed him inside. It was definitely cozy, a roaring fire keeping the place very warm as waitresses bustled about attending to patrons. Alex paused for a moment before making his way to the bar, the burly man behind the counter eyeing their group curiously as they cut their way across the floor.

"Barman, who do I talk to about a room for the night and…" he glanced over his shoulder. "…six meals?"

"That'd be me, assuming you aren't pulling my leg, kid." Alex floated a single golden nugget up out of his backpack, allowing it to rest on the counter between them. The barman grunted in acknowledgment. "Aye. Alright, a room and six meals. Lemme go speak to the missus. She handles all the money, and she'll need to open up the box to get your change." Alex nodded, leaving the man to head into the back kitchen while he grabbed a free table for him and his entourage to occupy while they waited. He was studiously ignoring the bewildered looks the older boys were giving him or the excitement of the young kids as he surveyed the clients.

"Why are you doing this?" Alex blinked and focused in on what he had mentally dubbed Big Squirt.

"Doing what?"

"Feeding us? Having us show you around? Why?"

"First off, I'm having him," he pointed at Michael, "show me around. You guys are just lucky enough to be associated. Second, I'm hungry and rich. I wanted to eat and wasn't going to make you sit and watch while I did. That'd be super awkward, so I bought you all food too." Alex went back to looking around the room.

"Still… you guys are missing a great business opportunity. I'm surprised none of you have tried to offer errand running services or guides to travelers and merchants. This is a pretty big city; you're really missing out." The older kids exchanged glances that held a silent conversation.

"Why would we do that?" Alex turned his attention back to them again.

"To make some money? You're orphans, right? Or at least if you aren't your families aren't very well off." None of the kids made eye contact, studiously studying the floor. "Exactly. I'm willing to bet you guys do pickpocket work for one of the small-time crime bosses that cropped up with the influx of refugees. You probably have a coin quota you have to meet and in return, you get protection and food or shelter. Does that sound about right?" The leader looked up to meet his eyes with a bit of fire in them.

"Yea. Yea it's right. So what?"

"So what? Squirt, how much money do you pull in right now with pickpocketing? A few silvers a week? You could probably get at least that much in a day just hanging around and running errands for the merchants. You hit your quotas, the rest goes into your personal, _very well hidden, _stashes to save up for food, clothes, maybe once you're older it can pay for an apprenticeship or tools or a place of your own." Their de facto leader had an increasingly thoughtful look on his face as he mulled over Alex's words. The food chose that moment to arrive, breaking the conversation as the kids all dug in to hearty stews and warm bread, Alex doing the same under the watchful smile of what he believed to be the missus the barkeep spoke of beforehand who had retreated behind the bar with her husband.

Once they had all finished up, she swooped back in to grab their dishes, depositing a key and a small sack of coins in place of Alex's bowl which he pocketed.

"Alright squirts," He pulled out a silver coin from the pouch and floated it over the table to Michael. "Tell me about this storyteller, then we'll go off to the market and you can go back home." The leader spoke up this time.

"He's a historian. Keeps a bunch of books and junk at his store. He knows all kinds of crazy stories, tells them to the kids at the orphanage every now and then."

"Oh? A historian. That's perfect. Is his shop near the market?"

Big Squirt gave a nod.

"Yea. All the best shops are around the market square. They all close a little before dark though." Night had fully set in over the course of their meal, visible through the large windows peering out into the street. Alex gave a hum of confirmation.

"Alright then. In that case, you guys can head on home. I can probably ask the Mistress for directions tomorrow morning." He pulled out another silver coin and flipped it to the leader. "Be careful with your money. Don't let anyone see it that isn't a part of this group. Remember what I said about the merchants." Alex hopped off his chair and gave the group another once over. "Good luck, squirts." With a parting wave, he made his way up to his room, the kids leaving soon after.

The next morning, Alex did as he said he would, getting directions from Missus Marm and heading to the market not long after breakfast. He needed to restock on non-perishable food for the road, primarily jerky since he had worked his way through most of his last purchase and had been too lazy to catch any wild game. Afterward, he would stop by the local tailor and see if they would teach him how to properly stitch a strong seam, then finally pay a visit to this historian.

Alex made the rounds quickly, restocking his needed supplies before bopping over to the tailor. The man running the store was a rather elderly gentleman by the name of Gerard according to a young woman running a fresh vegetable stand he had been passing by.

"Good day." Alex was greeted upon entering the domain of fabrics. "How can I help you, young sir?"

"Hello. I'm assuming you're Gerard?" The gentleman nodded. "Penny directed me here. She said you'd be the best person to ask about properly stitching fabric together."

"I see. Yes, I believe I'm likely the best authority on the topic in Denuse, though the answer will likely vary based on your project, young master."

Alex took a moment to think over how best to phrase his problem before simply shrugging and pulling some fabric and thread from the spatial weave.

"I'm trying to stitch these pieces of spatial fabric into a cube." A shadow was very suddenly cast over him, causing him to glance up in confusion into the face of a wide-eyed, fanatical expression. Gerard's eyes were practically on fire as he looked over the material in Alex's hands.

"Fascinating! Incredible!" Similar adjectives continued to spill from his mouth as he surveyed every angle of the spatial weave made visible, though he only attempted to touch it once, his hands passing through as if it didn't exist, noting the silver glow of Alex's ethernano coating his hands moments later. "Yes, yes! I can absolutely help you! A perfect seam! I can be the first to see it realized!"

What proceeded was a few hours of careful instruction as Gerard walked Alex through the process of backstitching his pieces of fabric together. It was a long, tedious process, but Alex finally managed to create a single seam up to the standards of his impromptu teacher. The man nearly broke into tears at the completed product. It would still ultimately end up taking him a while to correctly perform the same quality of work necessary for the full construct, but he now had a proper starting point to begin practicing.

As odd as it was, Alex was the one being profusely thanked as he left the shop despite having been the one asking for assistance. Nevertheless, he had achieved his goal, and so he made his way over to the local bookstore to pay a visit to the man known as Nathaniel Vix, just so happening to catch sight of a boy running through the crowd with what looked to be a letter in hand.

**A/N:**

This is going to be another AU point for my story similar to Bisca. While Bisca was an accident, this is intentional. Gray and Lyon are actually from the Northern continent, but tbh that'd be super annoying to write so I'm making them from Isenberg for plot convenience. Having Gray as a child cross the ocean to the western continent and end up in Fiore seems ridiculous, and Lyon and his band of troublemakers lugging a massive frozen Deliora from the northern continent to Galuna Island off the coast of Fiore seems silly, so they're from Isenberg now.

**Donumah36 – **We've got a while before canon. We have this original arc, the dragon slayer arrival, the Strauss siblings joining, the Exceeds showing up, and all the S-class trials to go over at a minimum just for important timeline content before canon begins.

**Yukilumi** – Yea, basically. You aren't wrong. I wanted to explore the other characters off on their own adventures during a travel sequence that I didn't want to describe. I probably could have dedicated a chapter to them retelling their adventures to Alex once he returned to have it fit the narrative better, but that's a relatively distant ways away and felt like they needed more immediate development since we won't be seeing them in the story for a few chapters.

**Guest** – I'm sorry you feel that way? It should get pretty interesting here soon, but then again, I can't please everyone.

**TehStorm **– Ehhhhh. An entire personal dimensional realm might be a bit much.

**Cade2065 **– All Fairy Tail magics have some sort of defined limit to them. This is one of the angles I'm pursuing for Alex's magic.

**Yami-Guy** – Somewhere between the two, though if I'm looking at it as a sliding scale it's probably closer to Space Stone than T. Law.

I'm glad you're enjoying it, hopefully you'll continue to enjoy both stories moving forward :)


	18. Chapter 17

Discord: /CGen5YA

**Chapter Seventeen**

The door's bell tinkled as he entered the shop, and Alex couldn't help but think it was just as the children had described it. Piles of books and paper were scattered haphazardly throughout the space, easily equal to the number of books actually seated upon the shelves. He was forced to take a moment to actually observe all of what looked to be some sort of organized chaos in order to chart a path towards the back of the shop where he heard someone humming while bustling about.

"Hello?" Alex called out as he picked his way through the stacks.

"Oh? Oh?! A customer! How exciting!" Alex finally came around a bookshelf to find a small man not much taller than himself, a curled mustache and a somewhat rumpled suit being the next most notable features that drew Alex's gaze. He was in the middle of what looked to be reorganizing one of the shelves. "Hello! Hello! Welcome to Nate's Books and More! How can I help you?!"

Alex blinked, unintentionally muttering to himself.

"I thought Fiore was strange, but this country is bizarre." The man who Alex was assuming was Nathaniel Vix hummed in bright eyed curiosity.

"How so?"

Alex blinked again as he registered that he had actually spoken aloud, deciding to explain himself anyway.

"…Half the citizens look like Vikings while the other half look like they should be prancing around in Pergrande's courts." He waved his hand as a general gesture. "At least in Fiore we all somewhat mesh in base appearance, even if we're a cultural melting pot, though I'm definitely not counting wizards. Wizards are all weird." The little man nodded along while humming in agreement.

"Yes, yes, I can see how that impression could come about, though I haven't the slightest clue as to what a Viking is, but I believe I understand your meaning. It's because of the relations between Isenberg and Pergrande. Isenberg imports many goods from Pergrande, who often hires labor from Isenberg's hardy people. It's caused a bit of a blend of culture between the two."

"I see. That makes sense. I guess what the kids told me about you being a historian has some merit then?"

"Oh, yes! History is fascinating, though I'm truthfully more of a self-proclaimed historian than any kind of certified professional."

"That's fine, I was just hoping you could answer some questions I have about Isenberg. I suppose this would fall under the 'More' category of your store name." The little man nodded along.

"Of course, of course! Ask away, I'll do my best to answer!"

"To be brief, I'm looking for an ancient battlefield rumored to be in the Dragon Spine mountains - " Alex suddenly found a hand latched over his mouth, the man's eyes darting about frantically.

"Are you trying to disappear?!" Nathaniel hissed under his breath. Alex just stared, confusion in his eyes plain to see. The historian put a finger to his lips before skulking off. A minute later he returned and silently gestured for Alex to follow him into the back. Alex remained silent throughout, wholly unworried but willing to humor the book shop owner since he obviously had information Alex badly wanted.

After watching the man double, then triple check all of the windows and doors of the back room, until it seemed he was finally ready to talk.

"Kid, you have no idea what you just stepped into, do you?" The excitable, happiness of the earlier man was gone and replaced by a somber expression and tone. Alex shrugged.

"Nope. Not a clue. The battlefield is something I heard about from an old document. It may hold something important to me."

"May hold something important the kid says," the man scoffed. "Kid, the entire Dragon Spine is a death trap, and not just because of the ambient mana attracting beasts and monsters to the area. Nobody knows who it is, but there's a really nasty group, some kind of cult, that's set up shop out there. They've got eyes and ears everywhere, which is why I'm acting so paranoid. Anyone so much as sniffs in their general direction, they go missing."

"I'm a wizard. I can handle whatever it is."

"Be that as it may, kid, just having this conversation is a huge risk." Alex levitated two golden nuggets out of his pack and placed them on a nearby table.

"It's Books and More, right?"

"It isn't about the money, kid." Alex gestured, a solid semi-sphere of spatial fabric popping into existence around them.

"There, now nobody can hear us and I've made it an official business transaction." He nodded towards the nuggets. "That should be more than enough to buy the information, your silence, and cover any hazard pay you might incur."

Nathaniel hesitated, glancing around at the shimmering material around them.

"Are you sure about this, kid? This isn't the kind of business someone just casually walks into." Alex simply shrugged with an expectant look. Nate sighed before swiping the nuggets into a hidden pocket.

"…fine. I know about the damn battlefield. Been hiding the information for months ever since those accursed Avatar fanatics showed up. Buried all the books on the topic out back. It's deep, very deep, within the Dragon Spine." He pulled out a rolled-up map of the country from a nearby cabinet, pointing out its rough position.

"It should be about here. It's a massive glacial valley carved into the middle of the mountains, almost exactly on the border between Isenberg and Pergrande." Alex quickly memorized everything he could from the more detailed map area, Nathaniel continuing to speak as Alex looked it over. "The problem is getting to it. There're no roads or paths that lead that deep, and the range is crawling with all sorts of dangerous creatures. All of that is before we even mention Avatar." Alex glanced up.

"What do you know about them?"

"They've been around for a while, not just the months here in Isenberg, either. Years, at least. The details are a bit sparse, but they seem to worship some sort of god of life or death. Nothing about them is very clear." Nathaniel shrugged.

Alex nodded. He wasn't worried about the cult, or at least, he wasn't worried about encounters with them. However, he was worried about their head start in searching the mountains. If something as large as a cult with ties to either of those domains was poking around, Alex was willing to place good odds on a functioning fountain being in the area.

"You aren't just a book clerk or a historian, are you?" The man let out a sardonic laugh.

"What gave it away? Was it the knowledge of ancient and dangerous secrets, or the information about a cult nobody has heard of?"

"Alright, alright. I get it, jeez." Alex murmured.

"If you're determined to still make the trip, be prepared. I know some wizards can fly; if you can, don't, you'll only be painting a massive target on your back to the predators and fanatics."

"Thanks for the tip. Anything else you can think of?"

Nathanial took a moment, eyes rolling up to look at the ceiling as he thought everything over.

"No. That's pretty much it. You aren't going to ask about my real job?"

"Nah. Even if you told me the truth, I don't really care. I only care about having good information and you seem, if nothing else, at least self-interested enough, if not a bit prideful about your work, so I'm willing to place faith in the accuracy of your words."

"…You're a bit scary for a child."

"I've been called a monster before… though it wasn't meant as an insult. Thanks for the information, I'm on a deadline you see, so I need to get moving." The trip to the mountains would take a week, maybe an extra day or two if he stuck to the wilderness to keep a low profile. Going in on foot would really put the crunch on his time, but constantly being attacked would be just as bad or worse if he picked a fight with something out of his league. Alex let the barrier fall and made to leave. He needed additional supplies if he was going to take the inconspicuous route.

"Good luck, kid." Nathanial stuck out his hand, giving Alex a firm shake as they parted.

Nine days later, Alex was hiking up the first official mountain of the Dragon Spine, the surrounding foothills rolling in the distance behind him. Hovering in front of him, Alex had his tongue slightly pinched between his lips as he used his magic to manipulate a needle and thread to weave as tight a backstitch into the two squares of practice fabric as he could manage. He was just putting the finishing touches on the stitchwork when his concentration wavered, his focus interrupted by a roar as a manticore pounced out of the surrounding trees, the fabric and tools dropping out of the air as he spun to the side, fist clenched and cocked back.

"Spatial Blow." The energy of his attack rocketed out, slamming the creature backward, toppling several trees in the process. It was completely unharmed, only slightly disoriented as it refocused on its prey.

"Bundled String Theory." Alex released several lines of slicing energy as the beast charged once more, the lines only managing to scour shallow cuts into the shoulder of the creature as it attempted to weave out of the way. Alex bounced up into the air to avoid the huge pouncing claws that came down on his position, a ball of silver-grey ethernano swirling into existence within his hand which he tossed below.

"String Bomb." It detonated directly on the beast's back, blowing a meaty chunk out of his target from the direct location, the expanding lines leaving a spider web of cuts expanding outward from the wound.

"You're a hardy bastard, aren't you?" Alex muttered, springing to the side to avoid the scorpion tale that came striking at his back, his domain having been locked into place from the moment he was attacked. Alex took a moment to focus, inhaling and exhaling as he kept an eye on the pacing beast below him. He began condensing his ethernano and the spatial fabric it touched into a single point within his palm, the manticore's ears and eyes perking up as it focused on the concentration of magic as it condensed, just beginning to backpedal and flee when Alex spoke again.

"Black Hole." The manticore's attempt to turn and run became an attempt to turn, then an attempt to simply stay grounded in its position, claws digging into the earth and tail wrapping around a nearby tree as Alex tossed his pale imitation of an infinitely dense spatial hole down at his target. Wind and various pieces of forest debris and detritus swirled toward the spatial anomaly at high velocity as it bore down on its intended target.

The moment the manifestation touched the manticore's fur, it imploded, a massive chunk of the beast being ripped from its body under the gravitational force. As the magic finished running its course, Alex surveyed the damage. The beast crumpled, dead before it hit the ground. The front right side of the creature had been completely separated, condensed into the ridiculously compact orb of various elements that now sat within a small hole it had made in the ground from its short fall to the earth.

"That might have been a little overkill…" Alex murmured as he looked around for his tailoring project and turned up nothing. "Damnit… it got sucked into the gravity well…" He sighed and hung his head as he lightly landed back on the ground. "Oh well. If I'm already getting attacked out here on the outskirts of the range by such a magically dense creature, I should probably remain focused anyway." Alex frowned as he looked over the massive corpse.

"Really wish I had my pocket dimension complete. Feels like such a waste to leave such valuable magical creature parts and meat." He muttered and let out a sigh, hitching his backpack further up his back and stepped around the corpse to continue making his way up the slope. He was entering the range almost directly southwest of his goal, so he would be cutting through a large portion of mountainous terrain. A massive roar sounded out nearby, Alex turning with wide eyes as something flared a mana pool significantly larger than his own.

"Shit!" He took off at a sprint, spatial fabric shooting him forward at high speed with each step while his ethernano bolstered his physical body. _'There shouldn't be anything that strong this far out of the interior mountains!'_ An explosion of force rocked the surrounding area, the ground and trees quaking, though Alex was unfazed by the sudden tremors, his feet never directly touching the earth. _'It doesn't seem to be chasing me, so maybe it was simply staking a claim on the corpse I left behind? Regardless, whatever this cult is doing has really stirred up the local fauna.'_

Alex kept up his expeditious pace, never slowing but also ensuring his travel was completely silent. Whistling wind from high speeds or breaking the sound barrier would be a quick way to attract a lot of dangerous and unwanted attention. He was already running the risk of being detected by anything with a form of mana sense. Only once he was sure he had put enough distance between himself and whatever monstrous creature had decided on an afternoon snack did he decide to slow his pace, finding himself much deeper into the range than he had been. He immediately suppressed his magic and continued scuttling along the slopes, playing it safe in order to drop any curious eyes that may have been tracking him through more mystical senses.

It didn't last long. Only a few short minutes passed before a similarly sized beast padded into sight as Alex skulked through the trees, its nose tilted up into the wind. Alex immediately slipped behind cover, eyes wide in surprise as he glimpsed the lion's mane and ram's head perched atop massive shoulders, while a snake lay curled atop its hind end. A manticore was one thing, but a chimera was in a separate class entirely. Claws and teeth combined with the ferocity of a feral lion, magical ranged attacks and natural magical resistance gained from the ram, while the snake struck from blind spots with speed and poison while protecting its rear. Chimeras were S rank magical creatures for very apparent and deadly reasons.

A deep, rolling growl left the lion's maw as it stopped, surveying the area. Alex condensed his presence as far as he could manage, nearly holding his breath with how shallow he was breathing. He gently pressed himself against the tree, stabilizing himself to ensure the least amount of shifting and movement. Cold sweat ran down his back as he waited, the snuffling slowly, gradually creeping closer.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a magical laser sliced through the undergrowth two trees over. A distant challenging roar answered the attack, the chimera snarling, its form blurring as it passed Alex's hiding spot, his wide-eyed surprise mirrored in the eyes of the snake though he was ultimately ignored as the creature continued into the distance, choosing to answer the challenge of a more dangerous beast encroaching on its territory.

Alex let out his pent-up breath, gasping heavily as he immediately fled deeper into the mountains, away from the explosions and screeches accompanying the brawl between what was likely two powerhouse creatures of the area. He didn't stop moving until the sun had begun dipping below the peaks, sending out a quick burst of his domain in order to find a small, hidden crevice or cave in which to pass the night in relative safety. His magical pulses did not go unnoticed. The master of the current stretch of mountainous territory could be heard stomping through the area for some time after, though Alex had already secreted himself away within a fissure long before its arrival.

"How the hell did these cultists supposedly make it with their full group deep enough to find the valley without getting wiped out? They would have had to have an unbelievably powerful mage with them to even dare attempt the trip." Alex muttered, practically subvocalizing his words to keep from making excessive noise. It wasn't long after that he finally managed to drift off.

* * *

The next week and a half proceeded in a similar fashion. The inner mountains of the Dragon Spine were infested with S rank and higher beasts and creatures. Alex had more than one close scrape with death, managing to escape in most cases due to heavily leveraging his rapidly expanding and developing spatial abilities. It was during one particularly close encounter with an Ekimmara that he achieved his biggest breakthrough, though Alex hoped he would never again come so close to death as he did that evening.

He had finished tucking himself away in a hidden alcove for the evening when he first heard the clacking of disturbed pebbles cascade down the nearby slope. It was the only warning he received, a massive claw suddenly popping into existence mere inches from his rapidly widening eyes. It was a desperate, instinctive attempt to preserve his life as he lashed out with his magic, his domain slamming into existence, the pure _need_ and desire to _move_ pulling him away from certain death. His body shifted, the ground he was resting on condensing as a spot further away was pulled towards him.

The Ekimmara was surprised but quick to react, springing forward to renew its assault, but Alex was just as quick, spatial fabric bouncing him up into the air even as he lay prone, a Spatial Blow shooting out at the same moment and impacting against the creature in order to buy even a second more time. It was successful, Alex shooting himself up above the treetops where he rapidly adjusted and flung himself away from the area, leaving behind the screams of rage of his hunter, though only until he was certain he was far enough for safety, quickly dropping back to the ground to continue his journey through the night, suddenly feeling as if sleep was more of a luxury than a necessity.

With the inception of his new Spatial Step ability, Alex felt he was already touching on the first steps to true teleportation and portals, his desperate escape lighting the way. Spatial Step functioned by essentially pulling the fabric from a further point towards him. It was energy intensive, but with his vast reserves from his years of fanatical training, he could sustain it for some time with relative ease.

It had quickly become his primary survival tool in this immensely dangerous environment, keeping him just out of reach of anything looking to acquire a taste for wizard while allowing him to rapidly evade any follow up pursuit once he managed to make his escape from unexpected encounters.

It was another sleepless night towards the end of his journey to the valley. The constant pressure of awareness alongside the lack of sleep he had gotten after his encounter with the Ekimmara was wearing him thinner and thinner, his own mind beginning to betray him as he considered his path so far and what he still had yet to face.

'_Am I really strong enough for this…?'_

'_No, you're not. All you've done is run, skating by on luck in a place that should have killed you. You were warned, yet arrogantly tried anyway.'_

'_That can't be true. I've survived using my skills… my training.'_

Something small and light clattered to the ground some distance away from Alex's hiding spot. His eyes shot open, body tensed and ready to move if necessary as they glanced around the immediate area.

'_How much training did you do for __**fleeing**__?'_ His mental voice chimed in._ 'All those hours spent __**running away**__ and __**hiding **__sure are doing you good now!'_

'_Shut up.'_

'_You're ignoring the cult too. Avatar, how strong must they be to have a __**group**__ make the trip out here?'_

Alex visibly shivered as the thought raced through his mind. He was in over his head. The thought had been itching at him for days. A constant reminder that Avatar had a multiple people survive these mountains, yet all he could do was run and hide from the creatures stalking the forests and cliffs.

His voice was hoarse as he whispered to himself for the first time in weeks.

"Arguing with myself in my own mind. I really am losing it…" It didn't take much longer before Alex succumbed to his exhaustion and was swept into a restless sleep, his dreams of sharp teeth and long claws reaching out from the darkness.

The next day was the end of his three-week journey. Alex finally managed to crest the final peaks overlooking the valley. Deep black bags hung beneath his eyes as he collapsed to his knees atop the ridge peering down into the valley. The day prior had been remarkably peaceful by comparison to the rest of the trip, which in itself was suspicious. From the top of his current perch, Alex could see the established area where the cult had set their staging grounds on the edge of the forest. There were remarkably fewer tents and fires than he had anticipated given how widespread and insidious the group's reputation had been, though that could likely be attributed to this group either being a powerful specialist group, or their numbers having been culled.

In the case of the former, he would need to be even more careful than he had previously anticipated for a couple reasons, directly was their power levels, and indirectly, the strength and intelligence of the cult itself in regards to its more far reaching influence. If it was the latter, it was a much lesser threat, but managing to get this many of their people through the death zone known as the Dragon Spine was still a cause for caution. It leaned towards the explanation that they at least had a single individual capable of protecting a group through such a hazardous environment.

Regardless, Alex knew he wasn't making any progress kneeling on the ridge and thinking, so he began his trek down into the valley. He needed to visit the cult's camp and do some snooping. Leeching off of their knowledge and progress would expedite his search, saving him time with his own while providing intel on their resources and capabilities. He would need every edge he could get in order to swoop in before Avatar could lay claim to whatever treasures might exist within this place, Elixir or otherwise.

**A/N:**

Double release to catch this up to Unique. I have no excuse for the delay, I just didn't feel like working on this project.

Big shout out to **Rain Sennin** for helping me with beta reading and brainstorming.

**I'm going to start limiting my responses to reviews in chapters. It's making my word count a bit too inaccurate. I recommend joining my Discord for timely answers or up to date information on my writing, including other projects that I don't have posted anywhere just yet.**


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